Kerron Stewart, Veronica Campbell and Sherone Simpson - file photos

An interview published in last Friday's Weekend Star, with rising female sprinter Kerron Stewart, made very interesting reading.

Stewart, a former St. Jago High student now attending Auburn University in the United States, signalled last year that she had come of age with a personal best of 11.03 seconds over 100m and 22.65 in the 200m.

This year, Stewart has already clocked 22.58 indoors for 200m and is poised to run somewhere in the region of 22.35 (or below) outdoors this season. Her 7.14 for 60m also shows that she will be a danger to all in the 100m.

The confident Stewart complained of not getting enough respect last year and has vowed to earn this respect on the track in 2007. We should therefore expect some very hot female sprint events at the National Trials in June as athletes seek places on Jamaica's teams to the Pan American Games in Brazil and the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan.

Stewart's main rivals at the trials will definitely be the current sprint queen Sherone Simpson and 2004 Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell who is fighting to overcome injury and be fully fit in time for the trials.

The 100m and 200m will feature some of the fastest women ever in Jamaica's track-and-field history and their battles should be the highlight of the Trials.

When she ran 10.82 at the trials last year, Simpson became the second-fastest Jamaican woman ever over the distance, behind Merlene Ottey who has a best time of 10.74 and three other times below 10.80. Simpson, with a lifetime best of 22.00 for 200m, is fourth on the Jamaican all-time list with only Ottey (21.64), Grace Jackson (21.72) and Juliet Cuthbert (21.75) ahead of her.

Campbell's personal best of 10.85 for 100m puts her fourth on the list behind Ottey, Simpson and Cuthbert (10.83) while she is fifth all-time in the 200m with a best of 22.05.

Stewart still has some way to go but if her words mean anything then her rivals had better watch out.

All three ladies are very good and, barring injury, could ensure that this country has three finalists in both the 100m and 200m at the World Championships this summer in the country where, in 1991, Jamaica's women won their first gold medal at a major meet. At the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, Dahlia Duhaney, Cuthbert, Beverly McDonald and Ottey won gold in the women's 4x100m.

While respecting the chances of 24-year-old Campbell and Stewart, 23, I think it will be very difficult for either of the two to defeat the 22-year-old Simpson at the trials. The former Manchester High student was the fastest woman in the world over 100m and 200m last year and beat Campbell at both the Comonwealth Games and the trials. She is now a seasoned campaigner after several good victories on the Grand Prix circuit in 2006 and she also has Stephen Francis, coach of world 100m record holder Asafa Powell, in her corner.

Send your comments to elton.tucker@gleanerjm.com.