Tracey not considering retirement
PARIS, France — Middle-distance runner Adelle Tracey says she has no plans of retiring from the sport and has vowed to continue flying the country’s flag high in the event on the global stage.
Tracey, 31, the country’s lone representative in the 1,500m event, finished 13th in her heat in a season’s best time of 4:09.33 minutes on Tuesday at the Stade de France. The event was won by Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay in 3:58.84, while third went to Laura Muir from Great Britain in 3:58.91.
“I don’t see this one being my last one because I am still quite young in my years of running the 1500m,” said Tracey, who is competing at the Olympic Games for the first time. “Actually, this is my third year competing over the distance, so I feel like I have a lot of room to grow. Last year was my best year, and I feel like I can improve on that.”
All is not lost for Tracey as she will have a second shot at making the semi-finals of the competition when she competes in the repechage round on Wednesday at 5:45 am Jamaica time.
Tracey, who is the national record holder in the event, admitted that Tuesday’s race was difficult but hopes to put on a much better performance in her second attempt.
“I think it was just a tough pace for me and where I am at,” she said on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, I haven’t had the best build-up coming into these championships, but I am actually really proud of going out there and running bravely and committing. I hope that tomorrow will move me on a little bit more to be more prepared. I don’t think that back-to-back races will affect me since my fitness is there, and there have been loads of times when I have trained tired and still produced a great session.”
Tracey, who has a personal best time of 3:58.77, says she is aware she will have to produce a strong performance in the repechage to get into the semi-finals.
“I think for me it was just about going out there and leaving everything out there,” she said. “I have gotten another chance in the repechage. Mentally, I think this is the most resilient that I have ever been. I have been busting it on the bike, putting in more hours than I ever have, so in that sense, my resilience is very high at this point. We will see how the body holds up.”
Tracey began representing Jamaica in 2022, having previously competed for Great Britain. She failed to make the semi-finals of the 800m competition after participating in the heats and repechage round.
