Candice McLeod ran a meet record 51.20 seconds to win the women’s 400m at the Velocity Fest Meet at the National Stadium in Kingston last weekend, this coming off a very hard two weeks of training she revealed.

While she is now the official holder of the record at the Velocity Fest Series, time wasn’t really of concern to the Olympic 4x400m bronze medalist, who is taking her season one race at a time.

“I wasn’t really thinking about it to be honest, because it has been a rough couple of weeks in training, so I just came to compete,” McLeod noted.

McLeod said that it had been very challenging in training ahead of the meet and that her third race of the season had been able to provide her with the opportunity to see where she was at, competitively.

The Pelicans Track Club athlete says that each race is a stepping stone in her preparation for the National Championships in June.

“It’s like last year, I have to run each race to see where I go wrong so I can make the adjustments before trials. This one is better than before.”

She admitted to having a real taste for competitive action, something which made her the most-improved Jamaican female in the 400m last year as she consistently dropped her time during the year.

“I always feel good competing, whether I win or lose.”

McLeod, who made her first Olympic Games team for Jamaica last year, made it all the way to the finals of the women’s 400m and then joined forces with her teammates to land a bronze medal in the 4x400m. She is hoping that 2022 will be an even better year than her magnificent 2021 season.

“The main focus is to go to the World Championships, and then, I wish and I hope, the end of the season is better than last year,” she said.

McLeod is looking to make her first World Championships team this year.

— Dwayne Richards