When Coach Stephen Francis said that 2019 World Championships long jump gold medallist Tajay Gayle would be doing a lot more 100 metres, he caught the attention of many, some of whom queried if the MVP Track Club athlete could actually be competitive in the event.

Gayle has since run some fast times which indicate that Francis has hit the nail on the head, yet again.

The 24-year-old showed that he can be competitive in the event when he ran a new personal best 10.18 seconds (+0.6m/s) at the JOA/JAAA Olympic Destiny Series at the National Stadium last Saturday. It was a massive reduction in his time, down from his previous best of 10.42 seconds, which left the usually shy athlete, beaming.

“It’s a great feeling, the 10.1 was expected (or) even faster. I stumbled in the blocks, but that’s life. You can’t really complain, you just have to move on.”

Gayle acknowledged that he is increasing his speed, something that is sure to benefit his jumping in the future.

“I’m getting faster and faster, as the months go by,” he stated.

Despite that super-fast time by his standards, Gayle revealed that the focus still remains on the event that made him world-famous. “We are doing as much as we can in the jumps and running. At MVP, we are focusing mostly on the jumps, really, as you can see,” he said.

But Gayle has jumped sparingly in recent weeks and revealed why that is so on Saturday.

“I’m battling with a knee injury currently which takes me out of training some days or some weeks, but hopefully by late June everything comes on and gets better.”

With his speed now better than it was when he became World Champion, Gayle is focused on his technique, so that he can jump even farther come the National Championships which takes place in a few weeks.

“I’m much, much faster now. I’m much more explosive; I really just need to focus on the technique, the hitch kick and landing and everything will be fine,” he explained.

Gayle is anxious to get the knee issue sorted out so that he can refocus his energies on his pet event.

“Long jump is the main focus, but the knee currently is the focus, to get it fixed, and everything will be okay,” he said.

Gayle rose from obscurity to win the men’s long jump at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, with a personal best 8.69m in 2019.