MONTEGO BAY, St James — After just missing a medal last year, Cornwall College’s Mar-Lando Farquharson wants to end his Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships with a medal. He says he is working hard to get one in the Boys’ Class 1 shot put.

After what he described as “a tumultuous year” battling injuries, a mid-season slump and doubts, Farquharson threw a massive personal best 18.88m at the G C Foster Classic in early March. Now, he is ready to challenge for a medal at his fourth and final Champs.

He was asked whether he would prefer another personal best or a medal.

He replied: “Ideally, I want both but if I had to choose, then it would be the medal as I can always get the personal best another time. This is my final year at Champs and I want to get something to leave with.”

While saying he is expecting a dogfight for the medals, Farquharson, who was fourth in the Class 2 shot put in his first year at Champs in 2022, said he has used the lessons learned from last year to guide him.

“Last year was a year of learning for me,” sad Farquharson who finished the year with a best of 17.75m at the Western Relays at G C Foster College of Physical Education and Sport in February. “I did not execute as well as I thought I would so I have learned a lot this year, I have improved my technique, and I am hoping [for] better performances in the shot put and discus throw events.”

After improving his personal best in the shot put to 17.95m, again at G C Foster College, Farquharson said things did not go as well as he had planned.

“It was kind of a tumultuous season — I was coming back from an injury, starting off the season with a personal best then hitting a plateau midway the season, had a little slump, then came back with another personal best,” he explained.

He said he had to take stock of things to help him recover from the slump. “Before I threw 18.00m I was not feeling confident; I felt very bad and just told myself that I had to do better, ‘I have to get out of this no matter what, no matter the injuries. If you want to be a winner you must tough it out and do what you need to do.’ ”

Entering his final Boys’ Athletics Championships, he said: “I am very confident in my preparation. I just need to keep that confidence, as was well as my concentration, and try not to get too overconfident but focus on what I am doing.”

To get a medal, he said, he will have to be almost perfect and will also need to remain focused on himself throughout the competition.

“Everything just has to go right. I need to not falter; I should not make anything that anyone else is doing distract me from what I am doing. When my time comes to throw, just go and do what I was taught and to concentrate on me — that is all I have to do,” he reasoned.