By Gary Smith
Caribbean Net News Sports Correspondent
Email: gary@caribbeannetnews.com

DOHA, Qatar: A bright start to what is expected to be fruitful season for Jamaican sprinter Sheri-Ann Brooks has had her manager Kris Mychasiw broiling with praises for the Commonwealth Games champion.

After finishing her first indoor season on the senior circuit as one of the fastest Jamaicans in the 60m dash, Brooks has continued to work hard under the guidance of coach Marlon Malcolm in the warm conditions in Florida in an attempt to match her Commonwealth Games performance this summer at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan.

Earlier this season at the Meeting International d'Athletisme de la Ville de Dakar, in Senegal, Brooks opened her international campaign with a sprint double, before just being edged out in Doha on Friday at the Super Grand Prix Meeting, and according to Mychasiw, the former Florida International standout is on the right track for something big this season.

"We are very excited about how well she is running, and the best is yet to come," Mychasiw told Caribbean Net News from Doha, shortly after Brooks finished behind American World 200m champion Allyson Felix in the women’s 100m on Friday.

"Sheri-Ann is already confirmed at the Reebok Grand Prix on June 2nd, The Prefontaine Classic on June 10th, and her last tune up before Jamaican trials will be on June 15th at Golden League Oslo."

Unlike last season when it was some what of a tame campaign with only the Commonwealth Games and the IAAF Grand Prix meetings being the main focus, this season in the year when many athletes will be vying for medals at the worlds.

Brooks will more than likely be one of the Jamaican sprinters looking for a medal in either the 100m or the 200m (making it that she is successful at the trials) and Mychasiw said the camp is paying close attention to the meetings in which they enter Brooks in to make sure everything stays on path.

"We are picking races very carefully this year," he told Caribbean Net News. "We have a very strict plan about where we would like to see her race and how often she will be racing.

"We are working very closely with her coach, Marlon Malcom, who heads the Zion Athletics Track Club based out of Fort Lauderdale. This is a very big year for her and her coach who trains many athletes who will be at World Championships vying for a medal."

He added that a trip for Brooks to Osaka to make finals is not the priority for this season, but that the main purpose is to set personal records on the way to the podium.

"Our goal is not to show up in Osaka and make the final, it is to leave Osaka with a new personal best and a spot on the podium."

Mychasiw said the sprinter will be heading into her next track meet full of confidence – and why shouldn’t she?

The sprinter, who is more of a 200m specialist, this according to her manager, will next compete in both the 100m and the 200m Brazil at either the Gold Meeting Caixa Fortaleza on the May16 or at the Grande Premio Brasil Caixa de Atletismo on the 20th.

Mychasiw, however, told Caribbean Net News that Brooks has been confirmed for both Grand Prix meetings, but time will tell if she actually contests at them both.

"She is confirmed to race on the 16th and 20th," he said. "I have let her know that the race on the 16th to judge on race day, if she is tired not to race as the 20th is the bigger of the two and we want to keep our streak alive."