Promising Foote targets challenging double
After making a late season switch from the 800m to run the 400m at the recent staging of the IAAF Under-18 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, Petersfield High’s Shaqeena Foote is not sure which of the two events to choose.
After a season where she mostly concentrated on the 800m/1500m double, Foote chose to run the 400m at the National Junior Trials, winning in a personal best 53.69 seconds.
After some success at the shorter distance, the 15-year-old says she is undecided as to which events she wants to run in the future.
After some prodding at a recent event held in honour of three Petersfield High athletes put on by the school, at the school, Foote told the Jamaica Observer with a laugh:“I would like to do both events.”
Dropping down to the 400m at the end of the season she says “was not that hard”.
She added: “Yes, it was a bit of a challenge but my coach knows what is best, we just did more speed work than normal for the 400m.”
Making it to the final might have proven coach Machel Woolery’s decision to be the correct one but it almost went up in smoke after the athlete just made it into the final as the final qualifier after a badly judged semi-final run.
After being a comfortable second in her first round race, Foote took off like a scared rabbit in the semi-final, blazing the first 200 metres before dying towards the end and was fourth in 55.21 seconds, qualifying for the finals as a fastest loser.
She was fifth in the final in 54.05 seconds, and while she had no explanation for her race tactics, she explained recently she ran in pain from a sore hamstring.
“Fifth is good,” she told the Observer.
“I am not disappointed at all, I did my best and was in a lot of pain in the races so I cannot be disappointed at making the finals.”
She admitted she did not run “all out” in the first round of the mixed 4x400m relays as the instructions were “to get through to the finals and conserve” energy. She was a part of the team that was second in the final, taking home a silver medal.
