YES, I CAN!
Jamaica’s World Championships triple jump silver medallist Shanieka Ricketts is backing herself for a medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, which starts later this month.
After winning yesterday’s event at the Monaco Diamond League in the final three jump-off, Ricketts, who was winning her second in the series, said while she is not putting any pressure on herself, she thinks there is a medal in Tokyo for her.
“There are always things to improve on, but we will be focusing on the last phase in order to see bigger jumps in Tokyo,” she said after beating world leader and world indoor record holder Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela for the first time this year.
“I am not putting any pressure on myself, but I would be disappointed if I was leaving without a medal.” And speaking about yesterday’s performance, she added: “I am very pleased I was able to get a good series out tonight, and that shows us where we are with our preparation, so I am looking to build up on what we did tonight ahead of Tokyo in a few weeks.”
Ricketts, who retained her national title recently, said with the new ‘final three rule’ “I really have to dig deep, because this is the jump that matters and counts, so this is pushing me to stay on top of my game.”
While she benefited from the final three rule, winning the jump-off, it was the other way for World Championships gold medallist Tajay Gayle, who lost the title in the jump off after leading through five rounds of the men’s long jump.
It was an ironic twist as Gayle had beaten Cuba’s Juan Miguel Echevarria by the same method in the previous stop in Stockholm, Sweden.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was beaten into third place in the women’s 200m, while Natoya Goule-Topping was fourth in the women’s 800m.
Ricketts, who was winning her second event on the Diamond League circuit to take the overall lead, had jumped 14.75m (0.4m/s) for second to Rojas’ 15.12m (0.0m/s) through the fifth round.
The Jamaican, however, had the lone legal mark in the ‘final’ as Rojas and Portugal’s Patricia Mamona, who bad set a national record 14.66m (-0.2m/s), both fouled their jumps.
Jamaica’s Kimberly Williams was fifth with 14.50m.
Gayle led with a season’s best 8.29m (0.2m/s) going into the final round, but Greece’s world leader, Miltiadis Tentoglou, who was third after five rounds, won with 8.24m (0.2m/s) while Sweden’s Thobias Montler, who had set a personal best 8.27m (0.4m/s), and Gayle both fouled their final efforts. Montler was third.
Fraser-Pryce, who lost to compatriot Elaine Thompson-Herah earlier this week in a 100m race in Hungary, could only muster 22.48 seconds (0.7m/s), as Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo rebounded from her loss to Shericka Jackson to win with 22.23 seconds, just edging out Marie-Josee Ta Lou, who ran a season’s best 22.25 seconds.
After back-to-back sub 1:57.00 minutes clockings, Goule-Topping could only run 1:57.35 minutes in a race that saw five athletes run their lifetime best, including the three that beat her to the tape.
Great Britain’s Laura Maur won with 1:56.73 minutes, beating her compatriot Jemma Reekie with 1:56.96 minutes and American Kate Grace with 1:57.20 minutes.