Despite failing to break the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/GraceKennedy Girls’ Champs Class One high jump record on Tuesday’s opening day of the five-day meet, St Jago High’s Shantae Foreman has not given up her quest to break the national junior record.

Kimberly Williamson’s 1.88m set in 2011 has survived many attempts, including Lamar Distin’s, who fell short at 1.87m on her way to winning the high jump at Champs in 2019.

Foreman, who holds the records in classes two and three while attending Excelsior High, attempted to attach her name to a third record on Tuesday but had to settle for a personal best 1.84m which she said was OK but not good enough.

“Yes, I had a great day, it was not the record but I got a new personal best of 1.84m and I can’t complain, I must say it was a great feeling,” she said, adding she tried not to be too relaxed in the event despite starting as the favourite to win.

“I won’t say I was too comfortable, as if you get too comfortable you will under perform but I was okay out there,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

Foreman, who has also qualified for the World Athletics Under-20 Championships set for Nairobi, Kenya, in August, says she is not quite done yet.

“Of course I will break the 1.88m record this year,” she said. “I will and I must.”

Foreman, who represented Jamaica in the long jump at the Pan American Under-20 Championships in Costa Rica in 2019, will be going after her second gold medal when she competes in the long jump today.

— Paul Reid