Usain Bolt in action tonight as Olympic Trials begins

Jamaica’s track and field athletes will begin their hunt for places on the national team to the August 5-21 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Thursday at the National Stadium in Kingston.

The athletes will compete at the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA)/Supreme Ventures Limited National Senior Championships, over four days.

The championships will also be used to select Jamaica’s track and field team to the NACAC Under-23 Championships in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico from July 15-17.

Action on Thursday’s opening day is scheduled to start at 10:00 am with the preliminary round of the men’s 100 metres.

That round features six heats and the top seven athletes by times will advance to the quarter-final round, which is scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm.

The opening day will also feature global sprint king Usain Bolt, along with his Racers’ club mate Yohan Blake and former world record holder Asafa Powell.

All three athletes will aim to seal their tickets to Rio in the men’s 100 metres. They will take the track in the quarter-final round.

Bolt, the world’s fastest man, is targeting a defence of his 100, 200 and 4x100-metre titles in Rio.

And he is firmly on course to defend his titles, with the 29-year-old clocking a blistering 9.88 seconds at the inaugural Racers Grand Prix in Kingston on June 11, the second-fastest time in the world this year.

On his way to the 9.88 clocking, Bolt turned back the challenges of Nickel Ashmeade (9.94), Blake (also 9.94) and Powell (9.98).

All four are expected to renew their rivalries on Friday in the final.  The semi-finals are scheduled to start at 7:12 pm, while the final is set for 9:15 pm, the last event on Day 2.

The country’s top women’s sprinters will also take the track on Thursday in the first round of the women’s 100 metres, which begins at  6:40 pm.

The women’s 100-metre final is shaping up to be a showdown between Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and her talented MVP club mate Elaine Thompson.

Fraser-Pryce, the 100-metre champion at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics just like Bolt, is back to full fitness following a toe injury.

Thompson, who won the silver medal in the women’s 200 metres at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, China, has a season’s best of 10.87 for the 100 metres.

Thompson achieved the 10.87 clocking on June 2 at the Rome Diamond League, while Fraser-Pryce has a season’s best of 11.09, which she recorded to win at the Racers Grand Prix.

On Thursday, Fraser-Pryce will run in Heat 3 of the first round; while Thompson will compete out of Heat 5.

Veteran sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown, who is also looking to seal her ticket to Rio, is down to run in Heat 4.

Campbell-Brown has a season’s best 10.83, ahead of both Thompson and Fraser-Pryce.

Campbell-Brown’s 10.83 clocking, which was done in Florida on June 11, represents the joint fourth fastest time this year.

Fraser-Pryce, Thompson and Campbell-Brown will also seek spots on the 200-metre team.

The opening day will feature two finals. These are the javelin and triple jump for men.

Friday’s second day will be highlighted by the semi-finals and finals of the women and men’s 100 metres.

The finals of the women and men’s 400-metre hurdles are also scheduled for that day along with the 1500-metre finals

Saturday’s third day will feature the semi-finals of the men’s 200 metres and the preliminary round of the women’s 200 metres, along with the final of the men’s 110-metre hurdles and the 400 metre semi-finals for men and women.

Sunday’s fourth and final day will be highlighted by the 200-metre finals for men and women, along with the women’s 100-metre hurdles final and the finals of the 400 metres for men and women.