Rumours of sprint twins Tia and Tina Clayton possibly leaving MVP Track Club for a new professional outfit being established by coach Corey Bennett – reportedly with funding from athletics wear giant Nike –have raised fresh questions about the future of one of Jamaica’s most successful athletics programmes.
Neither the Clayton sisters, Bennett nor Nike have publicly confirmed the reported move.
Observer Online reached out to the MVP President Bruce James for a confirmation or denial and his terse response was, "we do not respond to rumours".
However, the rumours come at a particularly sensitive time for MVP, following the death of its founder and long-time head coach Stephen Francis on July 4 this year.
Stephen Francis’ work at MVP Track Club helped redefine Jamaica’s place in global athletics and gave generations of athletes newfound confidence in the country’s ability to prepare, develop and produce the very best in the world.
For over two decades, Francis was the standard bearer of MVP, building the club from its inception into an internationally respected sprinting powerhouse that produced world beaters including Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Asafa Powell, Shericka Jackson, and now Kishane Thompson.
His demanding training methods, technical expertise and ability to identify and develop talent made MVP a major force in Jamaican and international athletics. Under his leadership, the club became synonymous with sprinting excellence and helped establish Jamaica as a dominant power on the global stage.
Francis’s death has therefore left more than a coaching vacancy. It has created questions about succession, athlete retention and whether the system he built can maintain its identity and success without its central figure.
The Clayton twins are among the club’s most promising younger professionals and represent an important part of its future. The sisters emerged from Edwin Allen High School under coach Michael Dyke before joining MVP in 2022 after signing professional contracts with Nike.
Bruce James, President of the MVP Track & Field Club
Both enjoyed outstanding junior careers, helping Jamaica win world under-20 titles. Tina has since established herself among the world’s leading senior sprinters. She won silver in the 100 metres at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo before capturing the Diamond League Final title in Brussels in September 2026. Tia meanwhile has stepped out of her twin sister’s shadow and, at just age 19, placed a creditable seventh in the women's 100m final at the Olympic Games.
Their development has been a significant part of MVP’s ongoing talent pipeline, making any potential departure noteworthy, even though no move has been confirmed.
The suggestion that Bennett could establish a new training group also raises broader questions about the next phase of Jamaican athletics, particularly as coaches seek to attract and retain elite athletes in an increasingly competitive professional environment.
It has been reported that promising hurdler Kerrica Hill has left MVP to join her high school coach Bennett. The two-time world Under-20 100 m champion's departure is significant and follows that of Olympic bronze medallist Rasheed Broadbell, who joined the Lonnie Green coaching camp in the United States.
Corey Bennett (Photo: Naphtali Junior)
If the rumours prove true, the implications for MVP could extend beyond the loss of two talented sprinters. It would add to the pressure on the club to demonstrate that its coaching structure, athlete-development system and international appeal can endure beyond the man who built its reputation.
The challenge is whether MVP can successfully transition from a programme so closely identified with one influential coach into an organisation capable of sustaining its standards under new leadership.
For now, the Clayton twins’ future remains uncertain, and the reported Nike-backed Bennett project has yet to be confirmed. But the speculation has placed a spotlight on a bigger question: who will carry the MVP legacy forward in the post-Francis era?
