The hype was real when it was announced that one of Noah Lyles‘ fiercest competitors, was all set to run in the men’s 60m in Nanjing; “Will he be the first to ever do it?” World athletics asked on Twitter on March 4, but do what? The 23-year-old, heading to his first-ever World Indoor Championships, could have been historical. Winning the 60m would have made him the first ever Jamaican to do it, and knowing the athlete’s tendency to whirl up a storm on the track, that could have very much happened. That is, if Kishane Thompson ever actually raced. That possibility is off the table for now.

The answer came from World Athletics when it released the list of athletes to compete in the 60m event at Nanjing on its official website. From Jamaica fans can expect Rohan Watson and Nishion Ebanks to take on the track, but Thompson fans are in for a wait. World Athletics Hub also took to Twitter to announce the news on March 11. “Kishane Thompson & Tia Clayton are no long on the Road to Nanjing portal. They will not be attending the World Indoor Championships.” Although the reason for the track star’s absence is not really known, there are speculations about the same.

The reason is not as complicated as many would presume. Maybe the Olympics silver medalist might just need some rest after having a blast of a start in the 2025 indoor season. He clocked the fifth-fastest 60m time in Jamaican history after blazing to a brilliant personal best of 6.48s (-2.1m/s) at the Central Hurdles, Relays, and Field Events Meet in Kingston. But the 23-year-old was far from being done!

A week later, he had another impressive victory, this time on the European soil at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Astana in January where he clocked a 6.56 in the 60m event. But this was also the last time the Jamaican sensation was seen on track. Soon after, the fans were in for another surprise delivered by Thompson’s closest associate.

In February, coach Stephen Francis announced that the Paris Olympian would compete in his first indoor championships in Nanjing, which surprised many Jamaicans and track enthusiasts. But the enthusiasm was short-lived. Now with World Athletics announcing that the 23-year-old track sensation would be absent, the track community is distraught. They have had a lot to say on this issue, and they did.

Fans React to Kishane Thompson’s absence in Naijing

The Jamaican was doing great in this season, clocking som exceptional timings and him being in the 60m’s in the World Indoor championships was a moment for the Jamaicans to rejoice, he was a becaon of hope; the country which has produced the likes of Usian Bolt but could not win the World Indoor 60m sprint, felt that this could be their movement but that was not meant to be. In a tweet from March 12, Track Spice summed up just about what everybody is feeling, “Not Kishane Thompson withdrawing again.” This is not even the first time that the Jamaican track star has raised people’s hopes only to quash them brutally.

Dropping out of a tournament is not new for Kishane as he has withdrawn from the 2023 Jamaican Championships semi-final after running a qualifying heat and now fans are just tired, some even saying that “We knew Kishane would drop out”. Dropping your name and then pulling out also does a lot of damage to the athlete’s reputation. There’s so much hype and then suddenly it’s all dead. Another Twitter user saying, “This kishane dude never shows up🙃” is quite evident how bad the pull out can be for Kishane.

Some are so frustrated that they believe Kishane should just stop running once and for all, “Just retire at this point man, this is outright disrespectful for the people who are waiting to see you in action.” And indeed it is, think of all the Jamaicans who had the hope of a 60m world indoors gold coming to the country, they’re all heartbroken. Questions would also be raised about if the world will ever witness the best of the Jamaican, “My boy may retire before he reaches his prime.” Well, things are getting a little difficult for Kishane Thompson for sure. The 23-year-old better deliver a solid comeback on the track to prove to his fans that he is still one the best out there.