In the past 10 months, Jerome Campbell’s profile as a hurdler has grown and expanded.
By leaps and bounds.
Campbell, a 22-year-old junior at the University of Northern Colorado, is running with the best in the world.
Campbell’s talent has become more clear over the past few weeks.
But Craig Sewell, one of Campbell’s high school coaches in Jamaica, saw this coming years ago. Sewell met Campbell when he was about 14 at Calabar High School in Kingston, Jamaica. Calabar, an all-boys high school, has been a rich source of top talent for Jamaican track and field, with plenty of Olympic and World Championship qualifiers among the alumni.
“Sprints, hurdles, jumps,” Sewell said. “Everything that he went out for and tried, he was good at. It was easy to make the transition to what we’re seeing now. It’s not surprising.”
A marked rise in Campbell’s progress and status in the sport began about a year ago when he qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. A few weeks later, he returned to Jamaica to compete for a spot on the country’s Olympic team.
Campbell finished seventh at NCAAs in early June at the University of Oregon. He missed a place on the Jamaican Olympic Team. Campbell finished one-tenth of a second behind the final two qualifiers. The national championships were held in Kingston, about 20 minutes from his boyhood home.
Fast forward to this winter and the indoor season. Campbell again earned status as an NCAA All-American in the 60-meter hurdles with a second-place finish last month in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Campbell broke his own school record for the second time in two days, running a time of 7.49 seconds in the final.
Campbell arrived at the meet as the UNC and Big Sky Conference record holder in the event. He ran a time of 7.55 seconds in February at the University of Arkansas.
He was an All-American the first time with a seventh-place finish in 2023. Athletes finishing in the top eight are recognized as All Americans.
A week after indoor NCAAs in Virginia Beach, Campbell ran again for Jamaica in the 60-meter hurdles at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in China. The meet is a prestigious and high-level international competition with world-class athletes.
Outside of Olympic years, Grant Holloway might not be a household name in U.S. sports. The man, though, is a giant in the hurdles. Holloway, 27, is the reigning world record holder in the 60-meter hurdles. He won gold in the 110-meter hurdles at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris and a silver at the Tokyo Games in 2021. He’s a three-time World Champion in both indoor and outdoor championships.
“The rest of the world is here, and he’s here,” UNC coach Wayne Angel said, raising his arm above his head to show the difference between Holloway and other hurdlers.
Holloway raced against Campbell at the World Championships last month. Holloway beat Campbell in winning the gold medal in 7.42 seconds. Campbell, one of the youngest athletes in the field, finished seventh in 7.71 seconds.
The times and places aren’t the point. Yes, Campbell wants to win every race he runs. With the indoor season giving way to outdoor track, the question now is how does Campbell carry the improvement through the spring for another chance at NCAAs?
University of Northern Colorado’s Jerome Campbell, right, sprints during practice at Nottingham Field in Greeley on Tuesday. Campbell was second in the 60-meter hurdles during the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.(Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)He runs the longer 110-meter hurdle event during the outdoor season, and he said this race ranks higher for the athletes than the indoor race.
“I mean, coming out for indoor season like that, you just want to keep it going, keep it rolling,” he said. “You want to keep staying successful, keep getting faster, keep running faster. And that’s just a goal. That’s the goal for this outdoor season, just keep it rolling.”
Campbell and Holloway met while in China. Holloway gave Campbell his jersey from the race and his bib. Campbell said Holloway wrote a message to him on the bib, telling Campbell to “stay solid, stay focused.” Campbell said the words encouraged him and reminded him to continue working, training and fighting to be stronger and better.
“There’s no young hurdler currently that can say they don’t look up to Grant Holloway,” Campbell said. “I myself look up to Grant Holloway because he’s been dominant. Both indoors and outdoors. So that’s someone you want to be like.”
There are 10 barriers in the 110-meter hurdles. There are five hurdles in the 60 meters. Women run 60-meter hurdles during the indoor season and 100 meters for outdoor track.
Campbell said other differences between indoor and outdoor hurdles is wind. There are no wind-aided times inside. Prestige is also a difference.
“You have Olympics for 10 hurdles,” Campbell said. “So this is more important to me, and I’m going after that.”
Angel said the men are working on Campbell’s speed over the second half of the 110-meter race. Speed is a strength for Campbell as an athlete. Angel and Campbell want Campbell to use speed to his advantage at the end of a race this year. He wasn’t always able to do that in 2024.
Hurdling is a technical event. The athlete has to go over the barrier cleanly and as fast as possible for the best time. This is even more critical for Campbell, who is not as tall as other athletes in the event. Holloway is 6-feet-2 inches. Campbell is about 5-10.
“You can’t afford to hit hurdles,” Angel said of an athlete of Campbell’s size. “The big guys, they can hit them and keep going. He can’t because those tenths (of seconds) make it hard to catch up.”
Despite all of the work required to maintain technique and form, Campbell holds on to confidence from the winter indoor season. He said he’s capable of being great.
“I know I just need to train,” he said. I just need to put the work in. No matter how hard or tough it gets. You just go to do it.”
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