Saint Lucia’s best sprint hurdler of all time, Khailan Vitalis, kicked off the 2025 athletics season last weekend with what he hopes will be the first of several national records.
Competing at the Texas Tech Corky Classic, Vitalis ran 7.75 seconds in the men’s 60m hurdles, just missing out on the final, but running under eight seconds for the second time that day. Those were the two fastest runs ever by a Saint Lucian athlete over that distance.
Hurdles have not been regularly contested at meets in Saint Lucia for decades. Current Minister for Youth Development and Sports, Kenson Casmir briefly held the national Under-20 record. Years later and seconds lower, Vitalis is taking the event to new places.
“I didn’t develop the hurdling skill in Saint Lucia,” he admitted. “It was developed in Jamaica. But I think that it should get more recognition and attention at the sports meets because it is a lovely and unique event.”
Vitalis, now one of the top hurdlers for the new track and field head coach at South Plains College (SPC), Wes Miller, moved to Jamaica as a high jumper. Along the way, he became the first Saint Lucian athlete to win a gold medal at Boys and Girls Champs, taking the 2022 decathlon title for Kingston College. But running those 10 flights of hurdles has become his passion.
Turning 22 this year, Vitalis owns all three national records for the men’s sprint hurdles, including the Under-20 and senior records for 110 metres. With a personal best mark of 13.96 from last year, he is hoping to get into the low teens. That could get him in the world’s top 30 and put him in contention for the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
It would also seal his next move, as that sort of performance would make him a highly sought-after transfer for the 2025-2026 academic year. With the sort of start he’s made to the indoor season, however, the former Entrepot Secondary student is brimming with confidence.
In the preliminaries at the Corky Classic, the general studies sophomore ran 7.84 seconds. His prior best mark had been 8.11 at last February’s Jarvis Scott Open. That meant that the young Saint Lucian had taken more than a third of a second off his best run ever to start the year. But as the US winter season wears on, Vitalis feels that he can top out at 7.5 or faster.
Taking half a second off his outdoor lifetime best as well would also lift him to Tokyo, which would be yet another new barrier cleared for Saint Lucian hurdling.
