Alain Bailey and Nicholas Gordon

JAMAICA'S most successful field event athlete at a major championships has been long jumper James Beckford.

Beckford has represented the island with distinction at both the Olympic Games and the World Championships. However, the many-time national champion will not be in Berlin as he did not participate at the National Championships.

Two young turks in Alain Bailey and Nicholas Gordon, who both attend schools in the United States, will be hoping to carry on from where Beckford has left off. In Berlin, for the first time at a major championships, Jamaica will have two representative in the long jump.

Of the two, Bailey, the former Kingston College student who just finished his junior year at Arkansas University, will undoubtedly be the one who will carry the best hope for the country following his personal best of 8.21 metres set at the National Championships. The leap gave him an automatic 'A' qualifying mark.

best season for Bailey

Over the past three years, this has been the best season for Bailey who won the long jump at the SEC and regional meets. Although he failed to be among the medals at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in mid-June, he still showed that he was nearing top form as he then produced a leap of 7.98 metres. Two weeks later at the National Championships, he showed great improvement as he booked his ticket to Berlin with his career-best mark.

Bailey, who will celebrate his 22nd birthday on August 14, the day before competition begins in Berlin, knows that it will be a hard task to continue the success of Beckford who has been a finalist in the past three Championships. Beckford was second with 8.28 metres in 2003, ninth in 2005 with 8.02 metres and sixth two years ago in Osaka with 8.17 metres.

personal best

While the likes of the American Dwight Phillips and Panama's Irving Saladino are all jumping over 8.60 metres, Bailey could still make the final as his personal best is much better than what Beckford has done in two of his three past Championships and with a big improvement, he could even be in for a bigger surprise as only four athletes surpassed his personal-best mark in the finals two years ago.

While Gordon will have to improve tremendously on his personal-best 8.11 metres to make some 'noise' here, both athletes could use this as a springboard for the future.

Bailey could give himself a great birthday gift by at least reaching the final in Berlin.