EUGENE, Oregon — Jamaica will have two women in the final of the high jump at a senior global track and field championships for the first time, and Technical Leader Maurice Wilson thinks this is a major boost for the “so called non-traditional events”.

National record holder Lamara Distin and national champion Kimberly Williamson both advanced to Tuesday’s final after they each cleared 1.90m and were tied in 10th place on Saturday’s second morning of the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Distin and Williamson were part of a historic session as three Jamaican women — Shanieka Ricketts, Kimberly Williams and Ackelia Smith — all advanced to the triple jump final. It all came a day after Wayne Lawrence qualified for the men’s long jump final and Danniel Thomas-Dodd made progress in the shot put.

“It speaks to the overall development of the sport, not just on the track, but on the field as well — and we are very excited that at least one of the high jumpers is locally trained,” Wilson told the Jamaica Observer during the break between sessions Saturday.

“I think there is great potential in the verticals and also horizontal jumps, but I am very, very pleased with the overall performance to date as all the athletes would have advanced to the next round,” he said.

“We would love for these performances to be translated into medals, however we are glad for the sort of improvements we are seeing in the individual performances.”

Overall, Wilson said: “I am pleased with the level of improvement that I am seeing in terms of our international performances in the so-called non traditional events, so I am very heartened and it is looking good for the future.”

Both Distin and Williamson were all smiles when they spoke to the Observer, saying they both knew what they needed to work on in time for the finals.

Distin, who set the national record 1.97 earlier this year and won the NCAA Division One title here at Hayward Field, said she got too close to the bar when the bar was moved to 1.93m, “but we will fix it”.

The Texas A&M student is still eyeing the 2.00m mark and said as long as she can fix her run-up she will get it, after she cleared heights of 1.81m, 1.86m and 1.9m on her first attempts after passing the opening height of 1.75m.

Williamson, who is participating in her second World Championships, said her height “was good enough to get me into the final”. She did admit, however, that once the bar got to 1.93, which is her personal best, “I just got flustered. I don’t know what happened, to be honest.”

The locally based jumper, who started at the opening height of 1.75m and also cleared each of the next three on her first attempt, explained that she got “too many little things wrong but we will fix it in time”.

— Paul Reid