Jah-Nhai Perinchief will be looking to capitalise on home-field advantage during the inaugural USATF Bermuda Games at the Flora Duffy Stadium tomorrow.

The Bermudian triple jumper will carry the island’s hopes competing in his first major event since his fifth-place showing with a new indoor personal best effort of 16.95 metres (55ft 7¼in) on his debut at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, last month.

It will also be his first appearance on home soil since being named as the Male Athlete of the Year for 2021.

“It’s going to be good coming back home again to compete on home soil,” Perinchief told The Royal Gazette.

“This will be my first big meet back home as I didn’t get to do the Carifta Games in Bermuda. I really wasn’t as developed and stuff and missed out on that opportunity. So being able to compete in an actual professional meet on a senior level and having it be at home is going to be a really good experience.”

Perinchief is keen to extend his impressive indoor form into the outdoor arena competing among a formidable field that also includes Americans Nathaniel Meade and Chris Benard, Kaiwan Culmer of Bahamas and Jamaica’s Jordan Scott.

“Definitely having some big names coming down should be fun,” he added. “Including myself, just being able to compete and be out there with them is going to be a good experience.”

The inaugural USATF Bermuda Games will offer the island tremendous exposure as it is being broadcast live, in a two-hour special by NBC Sports that will simulcast throughout Europe, Asia and Africa.

“Hopefully we get some people run or jump some world leads and just help put Bermuda on the map,” Perinchief said.

The 24-year-old, who is ranked sixteenth in the world, is off to a flying start this season, having achieved three podium finishes competing on the US Indoor Circuit.

He won the Arkansas Qualifier in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in February with a leap of 16.84 on his first effort at the Randal Tyson Track Centre to eclipse the previous four-year record.

It was the second of back-to-back victories as Perinchief also claimed the title at the Tyson Invitational athletics meet, also held in Fayetteville, where he produced a then indoor personal best of 16.91 and world-leading distance for 2022.

The athlete hit the ground running on his professional debut having finished runner-up at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, New York, also in February with what was then an indoor best of 16.55.

Other major events on Perinchief’s 2022 itinerary include the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, and Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, this summer.

Meanwhile, also flying the island’s banner at the inaugural USATF Bermuda Games are Dage Minors, Tre Houston and Lamont Marshall.

Minors and Marshall are both competing in the 1,500 metres and Houston in the 100 metre.

“We celebrate and salute our Bermudian athletes who are competing in the USA Track and Field Bermuda Games; Dage Minors, Tre Houston, Lamont Marshall and Jah-Nhai Perinchief who placed fifth at the World Indoor Championships,” the Bermuda National Athletics Association said in a statement.

“These four athletes have represented Bermuda in major festivals such as the Olympics, World Indoors, World Relays, Commonwealth Games, Pan Am Games and CAC Games.

“This is a special opportunity for them to compete against the best in front of their home crowd.”