BY RAYMOND GRAHAM, Freelance Writer

It is now history. The three-day National Championships came to an end at the National Stadium on Sunday with some breathtaking performances and a record number of spectators. Several new stars emerged and Olympic dreams of several others were shattered.

Going into the championships, all eyes were on the men's 100 metres as the two fastest men on planet, Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, were expected to put on a show. The foreign media showed particular interest in this event and were on hand to witness the race. With Bolt taking away Powell's world record, there was anticipation that Powell, despite missing most of the season due to injury, was bent on reclaiming his crown.

Despite the hype around the men's 100 metres, it was the women that stole the show over the three days with the 100, 200 and 400 metres being the stellar events. With the quality of athletes in these events, there were signs that great things would happen and they did not disappoint.

VERONICA STUNNED

With Simone Facey being a casualty in the 100 metres when she dropped out in the semi-final, all eyes were on Veronica Campbell-Brown, Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson. Undoubtedly, Campbell-Brown, a bronze medallist at the last Olympic Games, was the favourite to win here as she came into the Championships with the two fastest times in the world 10.88 and 10.91 seconds.

At the end of the race, thousands of spectators were stunned as they could not believe what they had witnessed, as 'Queen Veronica' was dethroned. What even made her defeat more stunning was that she was relegated to fourth as new queen, Kerron Stewart, showing excellent form and great top-end speed raced away to a personal best 10.80 seconds as unknown Shelly-Ann Frazer ended second in 10.85 seconds with Simpson getting third in 10.87 and Campbell-Brown one hundredths of a second behind with 10.88 seconds.

Frazer, who attends the University of Technology and is coached by Stephen Francis, was the biggest surprise here as she nearly pulled off the grand upset, leading for some 90 metres before being overhauled by Stewart. No one expected Frazer to be the spoiler here as she came into the championships with a personal best of 11.28 seconds and, indeed, she is one for the future. She showed signs in the earlier rounds that she was going to do something special based on the reduction of her times and she delivered on Francis' promise that "she is going to surprise a lot of people".

VERONICA REBOUNDS

Like a true champion, Campbell-Brown returned the following night to stamp her class in the 200 metres. After seeing her 100 metres Olympic gold dreams shattered, she came out more determined and put on a show for the spectators. There were many who thought that her defeat in the 100 metres would have affected her, but she showed no signs of this as she blasted around the corner and held her form well on the straight away to post a career-best and stadium record of 21.94 seconds. The defending Olympic 200 metres champion held off the fast-finishing Stewart to deny her the double. Stewart also went under 22 seconds, running 21.99 for second place. Simpson, the 2006 Commonwealth Games champion, had to dig deep for third in 22.11 seconds as new star Frazer posted a personal best 22.15 seconds for fourth to show that her 100 metres result was no fluke.

UPSET IN 400m

After witnessing a shocker in the women's 100 metres, the crowd got a double dose on Sunday as the biggest upset of the night came in the women's 400 metres. Based on competition earlier in the season, all indications were that it was going to be a three-way finish between world 400 metres bronze medallist Novlene Williams-Mills, Shericka Williams and Kaliese Spencer. However, the Maurice Wilson-coached Rosemarie Whyte, who just started competing in the one-lap event a year ago, had other ideas. With a season best of 51.75 seconds done over two months ago in Miami , the smooth striding Whyte of G.C. Foster College silenced the crowd once again. In the first and second rounds where she competed with Shericka Williams, she showed that she was on a mission, as on both occasions, she forced Williams to pull out her best to defeat her and she went into the finals with a lot of confidence.

Whyte was not fazed by the occasion and, despite the two Williamses dominating the earlier part of the race, she ran on strongly to defeat both to take home the top prize in a career best 50.05 seconds, the fourth fastest time in the world and the best time by a Jamaican this year. Although being defeated by a rookie, they had nothing to be ashamed of as Novlene Williams-Mills (50.11) and Shericka (50.33) were doing their season best. Fourth-place finisher Shereefa Lloyd also had a season best 50.62 seconds. It was bonus for coach Wilson in this event as his other two charges finished in the top six. Schoolgirl Bobby-Gaye Wilkins, who recorded a personal best of 50.86 seconds in the semi-final, was fifth in 50.98 while G.C. Foster College's Anastasia Leroy had a personal best of 51.09 seconds for sixth.