Jamaica’s in-form sprinter Ashanti Moore credits God, her coach Maurice Wilson and renewed focus for the rich vein of form that has seen her lower her lifetime best in both the 100m and 200m in just over two weeks.

The national women’s 200m champion ran a personal best 22.40 seconds in Austria on July 23 and then lowered her 100m best to 10.94 in Serbia on Thursday. Her 100m effort is the 16th best-ever by a Jamaican woman.

Having secured her place in the women’s 200m at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, next month, Moore plans to race one more time before heading east to the Asian country.

On Friday she told the Jamaica Observer that she sat out a frustrating few months earlier this year due to injuries. At one stage she thought her season would have been over.

“It had set me back for a very good while, out for four months. [I] thought my season was over — all the frustration and wild thoughts going through my head,” she said.

“But with the help of God and my coach I was able to bounce back, refocus and reassess myself. I overcame this big setback by pulling myself closer to God and putting myself first again and believing in me a lot more. So I’m running more from my heart and not just my body.”

“[I am] definitely not surprised about any of my times,” Moore said. “I’ve been working very, very hard, me and my coach Mr Wilson and everything has been falling into place at the right time so I’m not surprised.”

She is very pleased with her new place, way up the all-time list of fastest Jamaican women’s 100m sprinters.

“Being among the top 16 fastest Jamaican women-ever is a pretty great feeling. Words can’t really express how grateful I am and the best part was being very patient with myself,” she said.

Of the two new personal best times, Moore said the 10.94 seconds in the 100m was more special. She added: “Because it was unexpected and it happened on one of my worst days,” she said without going into detail.

With her eyes firmly set on Tokyo in September, she has chosen to keep her targets and goals close to her chest.

But she said she plans to race over 200 metres in Budapest, Hungary, on August 12. After that she said she will finalise preparation in Jamaica before departing for Japan.

“[I will] return home to my coach so we can can get some things together before we move again. When we get there, we take each day one at a time.”

Moore was fifth in her first-round 200m race and failed to get into the semi-finals during the 2023 World Championships in Hungary.