Julian Forte

Julian Forte (born 7 January 1993) is a Jamaican track and field sprinter. His personal bests are 9.91 seconds for the 100 metres and 19.97 seconds for the 200 metres.

Originally a horizontal jumps specialist, he won the long jump and triple jump titles at the 2009 CARIFTA Games. He took the sprint double at the 2010 Jamaican High School Championships and went on to be a 200 m finalist at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics. He won his first senior medal at the 2014 IAAF World Relays, taking gold with the Jamaican 4×100 metres relay team.

Career

Early life and high school Born in Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica, he first began running at Vaz Preparatory School in Kingston. Encouraged by his school coach, and inspired by the feats of Michael Johnson, he continued to focus on sprinting. Forte also competed in the long jump and in 2008 set a personal best of and came third at the Jamaican High School Championships. His first international competition came at the 2008 CARIFTA Games, where he was eighth in the long jump and third in the triple jump. He attended Wolmer's Boys' High School and in 2009, at the age of sixteen, he set personal bests of 10.75 seconds for the 100 metres and 21.93 seconds for the 200 metres.

The following year he changed his focus to the sprints. He took the 100 m and 200 m titles at the Jamaican High School Championships, helping Wolmer's to the team title, and vowed to stay training in Jamaica in the hope of emulating Usain Bolt. He came sixth over 200 m at the 2010 CARIFTA Games, one place behind his older compatriot Kemar Bailey-Cole. He was disappointed not to be selected for the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics, He ended 2010 with sprint bests of 10.49 seconds for the 100 m and 21.04 seconds for the 200 m. In his last year as a junior athlete he ran personal bests of 10.19 seconds for the 100 m and 20.38 seconds for the 200 m. Over 200 m he won the national junior title, placed sixth at the Jamaican Athletics Championships, and came eighth at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics. This performance gained him selection for the 2014 IAAF World Relays – the debut edition of the competition. He ran the third leg to help Jamaica to a world-leading 37.71 seconds in the heats and then the gold medal in the final.

Personal bests 100 metres – 9.91 seconds (2017) 200 metres – 19.97 seconds (2016) 400 metres – 47.18 seconds (2014) Long jump – Triple jump –

International competition record