Jaylen Slade Will Be Putting On A Show At The VA Showcase

Jan 15, 2021

It's safe to say that Jaylen Slade's life-adjustment has been a net positive so far.

In August, Slade moved from Georgia to Florida to attend IMG Academy (FL). And throughout the last couple of months, he's been working on his track and field craft: Focusing on weight training, speed-endurance and being technically sound coming out of the blocks.

This led to him opening up his indoor seasons with two personal bests in the 60m and 200m. At the Galleria Games in mid-December, he ran a time of 6.70 seconds in the 60m and followed with an effort of 21.13 in the 200m.

He currently is the fastest man in the country in the short sprints and No. 2 for the 200m.

This weekend will mark Slade's first time competing at The VA Showcase and with the recent announcement that New Balance Nationals Indoor was canceled, he will treat this as a national championship meet.

The competition will certainly be there. The VA Showcase has a history of producing fast times and bringing in great competition from all over the country.

So for the last few weeks, that's been his focus. Slade has been incorporating more speed workouts to prepare for the 55m and getting extra sprints on the curve to prepare for the 300m.

The 300m, from his perspective, is going to be the highlight of the meet. He said there have been competitive talks among the runners in the event leading up to this weekend.

But what's been on Slade's mind exactly? He has eyes on breaking the meet record, which stands as 32.64 seconds and was last set by Brian Herron in 2019. Slade says he wants to bring a show and wants to be the fastest one to the finish.

Slade will be looking to compete in another 200m at the end of January.

"A 20 is coming," Slade said about The VA Showcase. "A 20 is definitely coming. Both indoor and outdoor. No more 21 (seconds)."