TOKYO, Japan – Form and fitness are two of the key ingredients for success in sports.

And, at these delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, Jamaica’s world number-two ranked discus thrower Fedrick Dacres had difficulty finding either of them.

Boasting a personal best of 70.78m and a season’s best of 66.01m, Dacres could throw no farther than 62.91m to be edged out of the final by his 33rd ranked compatriot Chad Wright with 62.93m.

Wright claimed the 12th and final place, forcing Dacres to the outside looking on at what could have been had injury setbacks not dogged his preparation.

“It is what it is. We live and we learn” was the 27-year-old’s immediate response to his failure to progress from the qualifying round last Friday.

Taking the disappointment in stride, Dacres added: “To be honest it was just a bad day, that’s the most I can say. We were supposed to do a job and it never got done and we just have to move on.”

Dacres and this present cadre of throwers had appeared to be leading Jamaica’s rise in the discipline, as was evidenced at the 2019 World Championships when Dacres copped silver behind Sweden’s Daniel Stahl who threw 67.88m to Dacres’ 65.44m.

Stahl easily won gold on Saturday, while Wright finished in ninth place.

“I thought about the entire season and I was wondering what was going on, because when some things got better, I had three or four months of actual training to be here. I thought I would have done way better but it just never happened on the day, but we don’t make excuses, we make progress, so all we have to do is tick this off and move on.”

— Ian Burnett