Neither discus specialist Shadae Lawrence nor her coach Julian Robinson was surprised by her new national record 67.05m throw at Saturday’s USATF Throws Festival in Roy P Drachman Stadium in Tucson, Arizona.

Lawrence added exactly two metres to her previous personal best 65.05m set in 2019, in Clovis, California, breaking the previous record twice in the competition as she also had a 65.47m throw in the fourth round.

She told the Jamaica Observer she had expected a good result.

“I wouldn’t say I was surprised. I’ve been consistently training really hard these past couple weeks. Good throws were being produced in practice, so I knew if I could put it together in competition then something special could happen,” she said.

Her coach’s response was similar in tone. “I wasn’t surprised by it…she had gotten stronger and more explosive and her technique is continuing to improve. Fairly often she was learning and understanding little things about the technique. That said, she is not yet reliable and she still needs more maturity,” Robinson noted.

The throw moved her up to third on the World Athletics rankings which is led by Holland’s Jorinde van Klinken, who won with a personal best 70.22m.

Jamaica’s male national record holder Fedrick Dacres was also second in his event with a 65.20m effort after a season’s best 65.93m throw two days earlier.

Kai Chang was 10th on Saturday with 58.71m after he threw 61.11m in back-to-back meets in Jamaica and the USA.

The highlight of the night, however, was the mammoth personal best 23.01m throw in the men’s shot put by American Ryan Crouser, becoming only the third man over the 23.00m mark and only behind Randy Barnes with the world record 23.12m set in 1990 and Ulf Timmermann’s 23.06m set in 1988.

Lawrence, who has competed at the last two World Championships and the 2016 Olympic Games, told the Observer she was seeking consistency as the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan drew closer.

“I know that if I stay healthy and continue to train hard anything can happen. Consistency is key in everything,” she said. “If your training falls off it will show. Life happens but once I am able to train consistently anything can happen,” Lawrence added.

She said next month’s national trials in Kingston will be an important step for her. “The Olympic trial is a very important meet therefore it will be taken seriously. Every meet is an opportunity to get better and to prepare for the Games,” noted Lawrence.

She declined to make any predictions about how much further she can go, saying only: “I personally don’t like to count the eggs before they hatch. God has always been in control of my life. I will continue to train hard and in every competition do my best. The ultimate goal is the Olympics which I’ll continue to prepare for.”

Robinson, who describes the former Vere Technical and Hydel High student as “hungry for success”, said while her progress has been good she can still get better.

“She throws better in practice than she does in competition and she has much more in the tank…she is often inconsistent in competition, mainly because her technique is not yet stable and she requires feedback to maintain it,” said the coach.

“I would like her to get comfortable competing with women discus throwers who are throwing 65s and over, [and] to finish in the top eight at the Olympics,” said Robinson.

Lawrence’s coach, who is based in Kingston, does not get to be at most of the meets where the South Florida-based athlete competes. Robinson says coaching remotely is a mixed bag.

“It can work and before this weekend I would tell you it is sufficient but its not. There is much that I do not see when remote coaching is employed. However, at this stage that’s what we have. In the future, if funds are available, we shall have to have a couple strategic mini camps,” he reasoned.

Robinson said his charge “is a hard worker [and] she provides me with a lot of videos of training, daily”.

“I give her feedback as soon as possible, and it is this attitude that makes remote coaching work,” he stated.