Doha , Qatar — Jamaica’s Chanice Porter somehow fought through the pain barrier and finished eighth in the women’s long jump final here at the IAAF World Athletics Championships yesterday.

Porter created history by becoming the first Jamaican to reach the top eight in the women’s long jump final at the World Championships. Previously, Elva Goulbourne made the top 12 twice, placing 10th in 2001, and 11th in 2005.

The 23-year-old Porter leapt 6.56m to place eighth in an event that saw red-hot favourite Malaika Mihambo of Germany secure her gold with a world-leading 7.30m. She was the only person over the seven-metre mark.

Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk of Ukraine won silver with a season’s best of 6.92m, and Ese Brume of Nigeria copped bronze with 6.91. American Torie Bowie was fourth in a season’s best 6.81m.

Porter, the Under-18 long jump World champion in 2011, the same year she copped bronze in the high jump, said she felt great about her performance.

“I thank God I was able to come out here and do back-to-back jumping on my ankle. I have never done it before and it is good to know that I can go back-to-back on my ankle.

“But I feel great about my performance and I was happy I made it to top eight and I am just happy overall,” Porter added gleefully.

She opened with 6.30m, then followed that up with 6.44m and went better with 6.56m which guaranteed a top-eight finish. She completed her series with 6.44m, 6.24m and 6.47m.

“Today wasn’t my best performance as you can see,” said Porter, who has a personal best of 6.75m achieved May 2018.

“But it was good to be in the top eight. Hopefully for next year my coach and I can work on getting consistent, to be in my PR range and that will be the goal for next year.”

Porter was the only Jamaican in the final after Tissanna Hickling was eliminated in the first round on Saturday, but she was full of praise for her teammate, as they tried to take Jamaica’s long jumping to another level.

“It’s good to see Jamaicans jumping, especially Tissanna. She has done so well over the season and I was surprised that she didn’t make the final. But Tissanna has shown that she is a great competitor and I am looking forward to see what she does next season,” said Porter.

However, the talented Porter has been battling a niggling ankle injury and she is hopeful that problem can be solved so fans can see the best of her.

“I tried correcting it and I did surgery and surgery didn’t correct it, so I don’t know what can correct it right now. We kind a like hanging on a thin thread to try and figure what can correct it. Right now we are looking for other options to make it work,” she revealed.

“It was a great competition, the girl jump 7.30. It was a huge competition and I was really hoping that I could get back on my last three jumps. But my ankle wasn’t having it today, so I am good,” she reiterated.

“This is my first World senior championship and I made the top eight so I have a lot of confidence going into next season, which is good,” ended Porter.