At the start of his career, Weir competed in short sprints and the
110 metres hurdles. Born in
Trelawny Parish, where he also shared the
4×100 metres relay gold medal. In his first appearance on the global stage, Weir reached the semi-finals at the
2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics. He competed sparingly in his first years as a senior, although he did run personal bests in the 100 m (10.50) and the
400 metres hurdles (53.28) in 2009. He and Mills noticed that the hurdles were leaving him with knee pain and both decided that Weir should focus on sprinting instead. He dipped under 21 second barrier for the first time and placed sixth at the Jamaican Championships. He began 2012 by bringing his 200 m best down to 20.21, then 20.13 seconds. A time of 20.08 seconds brought him third place at the
Adidas Grand Prix in New York in June. In the
Olympic 200 m final, he was a surprise bronze medallist, securing a new personal best of 19.84 seconds in the process. His medal made it an all-Jamaican podium finish alongside fellow Racers Track Club athletes Bolt and Blake – the first time Jamaican men had achieved such a medal sweep at the Olympics. Weir started out his 2013 season with a victory of 20.11 seconds in the
Adidas Grand Prix in
New York City. In June, he registered a 10.02 100m run, a massive personal best from his previous record of 10.51 seconds in 2008. Later in the 2013 Jamaican National Championships, Weir cruised to the finish line in the 200m final in 19.79 seconds, tying Bolt's world leading mark at that point. Having won the first two of his diamond league 200m races (in the
Golden Grand Prix and the
Adidas Grand Prix), Weir finished second to Bolt at the
Meeting Areva, where Bolt set a world lead and meeting record of 19.73. Despite the clear loss to Bolt in Paris, Weir looked to be the closest to a challenger for Bolt at the World Championships that year. At the
London Anniversary Games, Weir clocked an impressive 19.89 and followed this up with a meeting record in the relay, clocking 37.75. During the
2013 World Championships, Weir advanced through the heats easily and made it to the final. In the final, Bolt won the race in a world leading time of 19.66 to become the first man to win the 200m at the World Championships three times. Weir won a clear silver at 19.79, equalling his best, while
Curtis Mitchell the bronze in 20.04. Weir would later collect a gold in the 4 × 100 m, after running in the heats. Weir finished his season off by winning the 200m at the
Memorial Van Damme in Brussels and hence won the
Diamond League. In 2014, Weir competed in the
Commonwealth Games, running the 200m. After winning his heats, Weir won the silver medal in the final. He is known for saying "No
English, straight
Patois", sparking calls on social networks for T-shirts to be printed with the phrase. In August 2017, Weir announced his retirement from competition via his
Instagram account, after not advancing from the heats in the
200 m at the
2017 World Championships in
London. In a change of sport, Weir was a member of the
Jamaica rugby sevens team that came third at the
2018 Central American and Caribbean Games. ==Statistics==