Jeremy Bascom, Central Park’s Track Club, New Balance star sprinter, fresh from equaling Guyana’s national 100m record of 10.19 seconds at USATF’s Club Nationals, in Omaha, Nebraska on July 6, went into the London Olympics overly confident that amongst other things, he would leave London as the sole owner of the title he shared with James Wren Gilkes.
But a bum Achilles tendon and tightness he felt at the start prevented that from happening. Bascom instead had to re-programme his mind to wait for another opportunity; an opportunity he hopes will come before the Moscow World Championships in track and field.
“I was so ready for London,” Bascom told a former training partner and friend Troy Fraser.
“My start, which is my staple, was together. I had ironed out a few technical details concerning my last 40 meters and I was very confident.
“I accidentally misjudged the time when my race was scheduled to go off by two hours,” he continued.
“It cost me what I believed would have been a personal best for me. I was unable to get loose having to go through my entire warm-up routine all over again and at that level, the smallest of mistakes can prevent you from advancing to the next round.”
Bascom, who hails from Georgetown, Guyana, South America, has steadfastly maintained that his first love in sports has always been cricket. He was only steered ‘trackside’ after his sprinting-prowess, chasing boundary-bound balls emerged and caught the attention of his High School coach.
It has been an upward climb ever since for the 5’ 7”, 165 lbs dynamo, who immigrated to the USA in 1997 and who always believed he has what it takes to run sub 10.
After completing High School, he put the target at his country’s 100m national record and started hacking away at it.
An alumni of Long Island University with a BA in Business Management, Bascom only got as far as 10.41s by the conclusion of the 2011 season and as the Olympic year approached, he decided to adopt a new ‘nothing can stop me’ approach to his game.
“I remember shoveling snow in winter to do sled work,” he told Trackalerts.com.
“I was so focused that I would drive up to the track and instead of seeing freshly fallen snow, I saw lush green grass, I wasn’t going to be denied an Olympic berth.”
Things began to fall into place for Bascom during the 2012 indoor season. He couldn’t claim the title of ‘fastest Caribbean man’ because of the fleet footed Jamaicans but his 6.70 seconds run at the Millrose Games made him the fastest South American of 2012 in that event and as he breezed through the 55m mark in that same race, he was clocked at 6.25 seconds and awarded an all-time South American 55m record.
As the outdoor season started, a lead-off leg split at the Penn Relays of 10.10 seconds, gave Bascom a big boost of confidence, but he was still unable to get that elusive A qualifier for London and his countryman Adam Harris was breathing down his neck. Bascom held a slight B qualifier advantage over him with a 10.21 time to Harris’ 10.28.
Then came Club Nationals in Nebraska, where he lined up against training partner Jermaine Brown (10.26) in the 100m finals. Earlier that week in training, they both went neck-to-neck against each other doing block starts under the watchful eyes of coach Andrew Harry and Bascom knew that to beat Brown, he had to do it from the starting pedals.
That race took him into Guyana’s record books, when he equaled the legendary James Wren-Gilkes 10.19s national record and he became the USATF’s National club record holder. He also vaulted himself into the coveted spot, as the fastest South American 100m sprinter of 2012.
Gilkes, a 1975 Mexico City Pan American Games gold medalist in the deuce and a 1980 Moscow Olympics semi-finalist in both short sprints, held that title by himself for 35 years.
“I plan to make 2013 my best year,” the ever-smiling Bascom told TA.
“I don’t intend to just participate anymore. I intend to be a medal contender every time I don my spikes.”
Whether or not the Istanbul, 2012 World Indoor 60m semi-finalist, dips below the sub-10 mark or not, it still bodes to be an exciting year for track and field. Bascom, resting at home and rehabbing his achilles tendon, kicks off his 2013 season next week. A season in which he hopes to run fast times and personal bests.
