The moments that made 2015

In a super year for Jamaican track and field, there were so many performances that deserved praise, yet it isn't hard to remember the moments that made you catch your breath and leave your seat. That's how the 10 moments listed below moved this writer in 2015.

1. The Carifta Trials finished with a rapid-fire 1-2 combination. I had hardly put stopwatch number one, which had Calabar's 15-year-old Christopher Taylor's world 400 metre best of 45.69 seconds frozen for later analysis when Akeem Bloomfield of Kingston College rose in the blocks for the under-20 boys' final. the tall lad crossed the finish line 45.41 seconds later. Stunned, I put that stopwatch away for later scrutiny, too.

2. Two weeks later, Bloomfield did it again. His lung-bursting run - 44.96 - broke Javon Francis' one year-old Boys' Championship record of 45.00, and Davian Clarke's 20 year-old national junior record of 45.21 in one fell swoop.

3. At the International Association of Athletics Federations World Relays, American Ryan Bailey angered many with his throat-slitting parody of Usain Bolt's patented 'To the World' pose. He meant no harm, but not a tear was shed inside the National Stadium a week later when Asafa Powell burned his heels over 100m in 9.84 seconds at the Jamaica Invitational.

4. Amid talk that she'd have lost to new star Elaine Thompson, who ran only the 200m, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce gave a master class in the 100m at the National Championships. She didn't just win. With her start, acceleration, and top-speed maintenance all clicking, she produced a time -10.73 seconds - beyond the best by Merlene Ottey, Veronica Campbell-Brown, and Kerron Stewart, a time just 0.03 short of her own Jamaican record.

5. You couldn't stop yourself from jumping for joy when Sherone Simpson zipped 10.95 seconds - her first sub -11 100m clocking in years to win the gold medal at the Pan-Am games. After so many years of troubles, it was great to see her happy and fast again.

6. When the television screen brought up 43.93 seconds as the time for Saudi Arabian Yousef Ahmed Masrahi and Jamaica's Rusheen McDonald, I looked to my stopwatch for confirmation. After all, it was only the first round of the 400m at the World Championships in Beijing. Incredibly, it said '43.9' and confirmed that McDonald had destroyed the

national record held by Jermaine Gonzales at 44.40.

7. It wasn't shock that made us stand when O'Dayne Richards spun his shot out to 21.69 metres to win the bronze in Beijing. It was respect. The big guy had made history with Jamaica's first-ever medal in the throws at the World Championships.

8. When Usain Bolt stumbled in his Beijing 100m semi-final, hearts skipped a beat. Thankfully, he pressed the auto-correct button and zoomed

forward. With that scary moment behind him, he stayed on course for another historic sprint double.

9. Predicted by no one, Danielle Williams produced a big upset to win the 100m hurdles in Beijing. With personal bests in both the semi-finals and the finals, she gave Jamaica its second gold medal in the hurdles after the 2009 triumph by Brigitte Foster-Hylton.

10. It was no surprise that Thompson very nearly won the women's 200m, but the race contained a big surprise, authored by Campbell-Brown. Always in the medals in the major championships, she produced her best 200m time in five seasons when she clocked 21.97 seconds in the innermost lane to secure the bronze medal. At 33, she is still a super champion.