TOKYO, Japan — Jordan Scott may have left the men’s triple jump pit at the World Athletics Championships without a medal but he walked away with something almost as valuable — confirmation that he belongs among the world’s best and the hunger to return even stronger.

The 26-year-old Jamaican finished fifth in Friday’s final at the Japan National Stadium with a best mark of 17.21m — short of his personal ambitions but for Scott, the performance was a lesson in execution more than ability.

“For one, I am grateful to come out healthy. Obviously [it is] not the performance I would like to have had but I can’t complain — I came fifth in the world,” Scott told the Jamaica Observer. “I know there is obviously more in the tank. A bit of disappointment there but, I mean, it is what it is. I just have to take this and move forward and see what we can do next year.”

The competition never quite clicked into rhythm. Scott admitted his approach felt “choppy, all over the place”, a costly misstep in an event in which precision and timing dictate everything.

“Distance-wise, I felt good. I just couldn’t get it together on the approach … that’s the biggest part of the triple jump, just how quickly and efficiently you can get down the runway. Struggling with that today made it a significantly harder competition than it needed to be. I feel like I didn’t give myself a fair shot at competing,” Scott explained.

After opening with a foul, Scott found himself playing catch-up, searching for that big jump to get him into medal contention. In the end, he was never able to dial in his approach and that big jump never arrived.

“We tried to make adjustments throughout the competition but I still wasn’t really getting where we wanted to be on the board. By the time it came around to about the fourth attempt, I started to figure it out. Fifth attempt, I gained a little traction but unfortunately fouled the sixth which, barring the last two jumps, would have probably put me in a good position.”

The event was ultimately won by Portugal’s Pedro Pichardo with a world-leading 17.91m, ahead of Italy’s Andrea Dellavalle, 17.64m, and Cuba’s Lazaro Martinez ((17.49m).

For Scott, the experience wasn’t about medals alone. It was about belonging.

“It was a great experience. It made me feel like I belonged. I feel like a chip [will be] on my shoulder going into next year, for sure. Just [going to keep my] head down going into the off season to figure out what we need to change, what we can fix to be better,” said Scott who insisted his best is yet to come.

“I feel like I belong; I feel good. I do believe I can do significantly better next year,” Scott said.

— Andre Lowe