The competition for the three places in the women’s 400m hurdles event on the Jamaican team for this year’s World Athletics Championships promises fireworks with at least five runners in with a legitimate chance to make the team.

Rushell Clayton, Shiann Salmon and Janieve Russell survived a brutal race last year to carry the flag in Eugene, Oregon, but Andrenette Knight, who fell while leading in the final, as well as Ronda Whyte and Lashanna Graham, will hope they will also have a say in who gets a ticket to Budapest, Hungary.

Clayton, who was a finalist at the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games last year, will go in the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) National Championships with the best time of 53.84 seconds, followed by Knight’s 54.20 seconds, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the world, while Salmon, the Commonwealth Games medallist, is in eight overall place with 54.42 seconds.

Russell, despite a season’s best 54.91 seconds done in mid-June in Oslo, is a savvy competitor with a load of experience under her belt and will be ready for the even set to be run across the first two days of the Championships set for July 6-9 at the National Stadium.

Whyte, a former national champion, Commonwealth Games finalist and Central American and Caribbean Games champion, will hope to force her way back into the picture after a few years under the radar and with disappointing results.

She was disqualified in the first round in the Olympic Games in Japan in 2021 and finished fifth at Trials last year after running just four races over the barriers all season.