Nickel Ashmeade (born 7 April 1990) is a retired Jamaican sprinter who specialised in the

100 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standard SI prefix for a hundred is " hecto-". 100 is the b ...

and

200 meters The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

. Nickel Ashmeade ran the third leg for Jamaica's 4 × 100 m team at the 2013 World Championships in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

which won the gold medal. Nickel Ashmeade finished 5th at the

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013; ) was an international athletics (sport), athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10 to 18 August 2013. Initially, Russia at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, Russia ...

in the

100 m The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

and 4th in the

200 m The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a Sprint (running), sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run th ...

Career

A St. Jago High School teammate of

Yohan Blake Yohan Blake (born 26 December 1989) is a Jamaican sprinter specialising in the 100 metres, 100-metre and 200 metres, 200-metre sprint races. He won gold at the 100 m at the 2011 World Athletics Championships as the youngest 100 m world champion ...

, Ashmeade first enjoyed success in the sprints as a junior athlete: at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships he beat compatriot Dexter Lee to the 100 m title, was runner-up to

Ramone McKenzie Ramone McKenzie (born 15 November 1990) is a retired Jamaican sprinter who specialised in the 100 and 200 metres. He turned professional on 2 November 2009, now being trained by American coach Lance Brauman. He is also a young entrepreneur who ...

over 200 m, and teamed up with the pair to bring

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

the 4 × 100 meter relay title. Another medal haul came for the young Jamaican at the

2007 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2007 World Youth Championships in Athletics were the fifth edition of the IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics. They were held on 11–15 July 2007 in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Results Boys Girls Medals table See also ...

, where he was second to

Lee Lee may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lee'' (2007 film), Tamil-language sports action film * ''Lee'' (2017 film), Kannada-language action film * ''Lee'' (2023 film), biographical drama about Lee Miller, American photojournalist * ''L ...

in the 100 m, ran a 200 m best of 20.76 seconds for the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

, and helped the national team to another bronze in the sprint medley relay. He competed at the

Penn Relays The Penn Relays (officially The Penn Relay Carnival) is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. In 2012 ...

in 2008 and represented his school, St. Jago High School – an institution renowned for producing

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athletes. Ashmeade focused on the 200 m at the

2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2008 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Bydgoszcz in Poland at the Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium between 8 and 13 July 2008. Previously Bydgoszcz hosted ...

and he took the silver medal in

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, narrowly finishing behind France's

Christophe Lemaitre Christophe Lemaitre (; born 11 June 1990) is a former French people, French Sprint (running), sprinter who specialised in the 100 metres, 100 and 200 metres. In 2010, Lemaitre became the first white athlete to break the 10-second barrier in an o ...

. A second silver came in the 4 × 100 m relay and he departed from his usual oeuvre to help

to fourth place in the 4 × 400 m relay. The regional

CARIFTA Games The CARIFTA Games is an annual athletics competition founded by the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA). The games were first held in 1972 and consist of track and field events including sprint races, hurdles, middle distance track ev ...

provided him the opportunity for further junior medals: he won the 200 m title and two relay

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

s at the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

edition and almost repeated the feat in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, with the sole difference being a 4 × 400 m relay silver. His final international outing as a junior athlete came at the 2009 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships in

Port of Spain Port of Spain ( ; Trinidadian and Tobagonian English, Trinidadian English: ''Port ah Spain'' ) is the capital and chief port of Trinidad and Tobago. With a municipal population of 49,867 (2017), an urban population of 81,142 and a transient dail ...

and he won the 200 m gold in a personal best of 20.40 seconds before going on to take a relay bronze medal. He made the transition to the senior ranks at the 2009 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics, where he won the 200 m race ahead of Rondel Sorrillo. After a quiet 2010, he made significant improvements at the start of the 2011 outdoor season. In May 2011, he completed his first 200 m in under 20 seconds in Kingston, running 19.96 seconds to surprise the more established

Wallace Spearmon Wallace Spearmon Jr. (born December 24, 1984, in Chicago, Illinois, USA) is a retired American sprint athlete who specialized in the 200 meters. He is a two-time NCAA outdoor champion in the 200 m and won the silver medal in the eve ...

and improve upon his previous best by almost half a second. Ashmeade made similar progress in the 100 m at the Ponce Grand Prix later that month, setting a meet record to beat Justin Gatlin,

2004 Olympic The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

and 2005 World champion, with a time of 10.05 seconds (an improvement of 0.24 seconds). Ashmeade competed in the

, and 4 × 100 m relay at the 2013 World Championships. After finishing 5th in the

and narrowly coming 4th in the

, Ashmeade was part of the Jamaican 4 × 100 m relay team which won gold. Ashmeade represented

in the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. During his first

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

, he finished fifth place in the semifinal rounds of the men's 100 m with a time of 10.05s and fourth in the

semifinals with 20.31s. He earned his first Olympic medal as the third leg of the 4 × 100 m relay team, anchored by

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt (; born 21 August 1986) is a Jamaican retired sprinter who is widely regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time. He is an eight-time Olympic gold medalist and the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, ...

, with a time of 37.27s. Ashmeade has won a total of five medals representing

at the

IAAF World Relays The World Athletics Relays, known as the ''IAAF World Relays'' until 2019, is an international biennial track and field sporting event held by World Athletics where teams from around the world compete in relay races, some of which are not part ...

. The most recent being at the 2017 edition of the event in which he won a bronze medal in the 4 × 200 m relay. At the 2014 edition, Ashmeade won two gold medals in the 4 × 100 m relay and the 4 × 200 m relay running the first and second leg respectively. At the 2015 edition Ashmeade won a gold and silver. The gold was won in the 4 × 200 m relay whilst running the first leg and the silver was won in the 4 × 100 m relay running the third leg.

Personal bests

Achievements

Track records

As of September 2024, Ashmeade holds the following track records for 100 metres and 200 metres.

100 metres

200 metres

References

External links

*
A Focused Nikel Ashmeade Runs Into The Spotlight
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashmeade, Nickel 1990 births Living people Jamaican male sprinters Sportspeople from Saint Ann Parish Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Jamaica Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Jamaica Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Jamaica World Athletics Championships medalists Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Jamaica Olympic gold medalists for Jamaica Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics World Athletics record holders (relay) Diamond League winners World Athletics Championships winners 21st-century Jamaican sportsmen Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Jamaican Athletics Championships winners Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in athletics