Ashanti Moore of Jamaica reacts after competing in the women’s 200m heat on day five of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, on August 23, 2023. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)
Corey Bennett, the former coach of Jamaican sprinter Ashanti Moore, says he thinks she has “more to come” after she lowered her personal best in the 100m on Thursday.
The 24-year-old Moore clocked a smart 10.94 seconds (0.7m/s) during the fourth Serbia Athletics Meeting in Belgrade, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze event. Her previous best was 11.06 set in 2023.
Moore, the reigning national women’s 200m champion, has improved her personal best times in both the 100m and 200m in just over two weeks. She has also achieved the qualifying time for the 200m at the World Athletics Championships to be held in Tokyo, Japan, from September 13-21.
“It has been a joy watching her finally reap the fruits of her hard labour,” Bennett, who coached Moore when she attended Hydel High, told the Jamaica Observer.
“I spoke to her after she won the 200m at the national championships [in June] and also after she hit the qualifying mark and told her how proud I was of her and how proud she made all ‘Hydelites’ feel with her performances.”
Moore had moved to the United States after she left high school but returned home where she has been coached by Maurice Wilson at Sprintec Track club, based at GC Foster College.
Bennett noted it is a move that has been paying off.
“Ashanti is in a very good place, mentally and physically, with coach Wilson and the Sprintec family. And what we are seeing from her now is what most Jamaicans were expecting from her when she left Hydel,” he said.
“Nothing happens before the time, and her sub-11.00 performance [on Thursday] was testament of that…she has made us proud and I strongly suspect there is more to come.”
Moore has become the joint-16th fastest Jamaican woman in the 100m after her winning effort in the final in Serbia. She is tied with Schillonie Calvert-Powell and Briana Williams.
The former Hydel High standout is the 27th Jamaican woman to dip under 11 seconds in the 100m. She is the fifth fastest Jamaican in the event so far this year.
Last month in Austria, Moore ran a 200m personal best and World Championships qualifying time of 22.40.
In the first round of the 100m on Thursday, Moore placed second in her heat in 11.36 (-0.4m/s). Her compatriot Krystal Sloley won her heat in 11.37 (-0.4m/s).
But, in the final, no one could keep pace with the hot-stepping Moore, who charged to her first-ever clocking under 11 seconds.
Sloley was fourth in the final, running 11.28, while Switzerland’s Salome Kora was second in a season’s best 11.15 and Finland’s Lotta Kemppinen was third in 11.45.
Many-time national champion Danniel Thomas-Dodd was also a winner in Serbia, claiming the women’s shot put with a throw of 19.04m after she took the lead in the third round and never looked back.
Finland’s Emilia Kangas threw a personal best 18.42m, beating her previous best of 18.20m to take second. Portugal’s Eliana Bandiera was third with 18.20m.
LaFranz Campbell was fourth overall in the 110m hurdles, running 13.67 (-0.2m/s) in his section, while Dejour Russell was sixth overall with 13.94.
Michael Campbell was fifth in the men’s 100m final in 10.36 (0.9m/s), with Julian Forte sixth in 11.91, while Dominic Williams was third in the B final in 10.36 (0.6m/s).
Kimberly Williams retired after one attempt in the women’s triple jump.
Ashanti Moore (Photo: Garfield Robinson)
BENNETT… Ashanti is in a very good place, mentally and physically, with coach Wilson and the Sprintec family (Photo: Naphtali Junior)
In this June 28, 2025 file photo, Danniel Thomas-Dodd competes in the women’s shot put during the JAAA National Championships at the National Stadium in Jamaica. Thomas-Dodd won the women’s shot put during the Serbia Athletics Meeting in Belgrade on Thursday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)
