With very little expectation other than to open his season as many other seniors were doing last Saturday, Lushane Wilson, the reigning national high jump champion, outdid himself with a personal best effort in winning the event at the Queen’s/Grace Jackson Meet.

Wilson, who had a best height of 2.21m last year, first set a new mark of 2.23m and then 2.26m to add a total of 5cm to his lifetime best, an achievement that left him over the moon.

“I’m elated. I feel fantastic, I feel amazing. It’s a great feeling,” he said between grins as he slowly came to terms with what he had achieved.

As for what to expect for the next few months, Wilson’s message was very simple.

“You never can tell. It’s only up from here!”

He has promised not to apply any pressure to himself after his fantastic season opener.

“I’m not going to set any expectations or anything like that, so…I will just go with the flow, so that’s what I am trying to do right now.”

He has never represented the country at any major championships and feels a little bit rebuffed after not being considered for the Commonwealth Games last year, but Wilson has his eyes set on Budapest, Hungary, this year.

“It’s on everybody’s agenda as a senior athlete. It would be my first time going [to the World Championships], so I would not want to just go and compete, but I would like to also medal as well,” he stated.

Wilson said he has technical areas to work on and hopes that in fixing those issues he will be able to soar to even higher heights this season.

“I’m going to try my best in training, getting what I need to get, fixing the little things in my run-up and see how far I can get from here.”

What made achieving the new personal best on Saturday even more special for Wilson is the fact that he participated in a basketball match the night before which left him feeling leggy before the high jump.

“I am under so much load right now, I’m so tired. I had to just pull through. So, 2.26 is not a bad mark, so it’s just up from here.”

Wilson beat Christoff Bryan (2.23m) and Raymond Richards (2.10m) in the senior men’s high jump.

— Dwayne Richards