After winning the high jump, discus and overall champion boy titles at the Eastern Athletics Championships, which is the regional championships for the area from where he hails, Romaine Beckford promised that he would win the high jump at the Digicel Grand Prix Final.

At the Grand Prix final all the regional champions collided to prove who was best ahead of the ultimate ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ & Girls’ Championships. Beckford won at the Grand Prix Final and promised, yet again, to win at Champs.

Last Saturday, on the final day of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ & Girls’ Athletics Championships while competing simultaneously in the Class Two high jump and discus, Beckford proved that he is more than just talk.

The Buff Bay athlete became a ‘star athlete at Champs’ when he cleared two metres to win the high jump and then skipped over to the discus to not only win gold, but break the record with a personal best throw of 55.70m, which was 10m more than the record he threw at Eastern Champs.

The 15-year-old has certainly left his mark on what was another great edition of Champs and credits mental toughness and hard work for his success at the world’s greatest high school track and field event.

His season was designed for it all to come together at Champs and it certainly did.

“Well, you need to have a good mindset and hard work. I put in the hard work because they say that the peaking level at training is one of the hardest levels, because that is where you can get injured the easiest…so I worked on my mindset,” he declared.

Having finished in the middle of the pack last year, those experiences helped to prepare Beckford for a proper assault this year, which saw him finish at the top of the pile in both the high jump and discus with his name in the record books as an added bonus.

“It is great, but it was a struggle, because the high jump and discus happened at the same time, but I had to put my brain to it because it was the same thing last year, so I came prepared and I just bring out the talent.

“The experiences from last year helped me to concrete my brain to it, to come with the mentality and drive to get the job done. It feels great, super great!” he beamed.

He was thankful for the support group he has that enabled the success at Champs.

“I feel extremely great and I am glad that I made my coach proud, so that’s the best of me. My parents are more proud than I am actually, I am sure of that. My school always reacts to my performances, so I think they will react the same or better to this. My teachers pushed me and spoke to me about how to behave in school and how to put the education with the track and field and I will be the next superstar.”

The Carifta Games are on this coming weekend and his target there is a simple one.

“I am looking forward to doing the same at the Carifta Games, which is to do my best.”

Beckford will be a part of the 76-member Jamaican contingent heading to the Bahamas to defend the regional title.