Kerron Stewart

FORMER ST. Jago star, Kerron Stewart, was at her devastating best last weekend during the SEC Indoor Track and Field Champion-ships held at the University of Kentucky.

The former Jamaican junior broke records left, right and centre, while entering the top rank of world sprinting, thus she was an easy choice for her first Gleaner Top Performer of the Week title.

A World Junior Championships gold medallist, Stewart won the sprint double - the 200m in 22.46 and the 60m in 7.14, both times putting her on par with the world's best.

Apart from bettering Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell's SEC indoor and University of Kentucky's (UK) Fieldhouse records of 22.67, Stewart, who now holds four of the top eight fastest times (22.46, 22.76, 23.00 and 23.25) this year based on the IAAF's Top List, became the 10th fastest woman ever.

Only Merlene Ottey (21.87) who holds the world indoor record, Irina Privalova of Russia (22.10), Heike Drechsler of Germany (22.27), Gwen Torrence of the US (22.33), Campbell (22.38), Germany's Marita Koch (22.39), Ionela Tirlea-Manolache of Romania (22.39), Galina Malchugina of Russia (22.41) and Svetlana Goncharenko of Russia (22.43) have gone faster than Stewart.

Second fastest time

As with the 200m, only the American Collegiate 60m record of 7.09 held by Angella Williams was left standing as Stewart blazed the track to win in 7.14, the second fastest time in the world this year.

Tezdzhan Naimova of Belgium (7.13) is fastest this year.

This time puts her as the fifth fastest Jamaican ever over the distance behind Ottey (6.96), Juliet Campbell (7.04), Juliet Cuthbert (7.09) and Michelle Freeman (7.12).

"I feel great because that was my goal and my coach's goal - to go out there and break the records," Stewart said.

- A.F.