Confident Parchment yearns for the perfect race
OLYMPIC champion Hansle Parchment continued to enjoy a good 2022 season when he repeated as national champion in the men’s 110m hurdles at the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) Senior and Junior Championships at the National Stadium on Sunday.
Parchment crossed the line in a snappy 13.14s to win ahead of Rasheed Broadbell who was second in 13.20s. Orlando Bennett was third in 13.28s.
All three men are to represent Jamaica at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon next month.
Heading into the championships on the weekend, Parchment, who has run sparingly this season and has won all his races on local soil, was ranked fourth in the world, something to which he pays little attention.
“I don’t really focus on rankings. It has a lot to do with how many races you run and of course, times as well. I have not really run as much as some of the other guys so you might not see me at number one just yet,” he said.
Over the years Parchment had struggled with his start but has been getting better at it in recent times. And for his rivals, there may be more to fear from the big man who is working hard to get it close to perfection.
“I am working tirelessly to improve that start because I know that when I put together a solid race I can run even greater times — so I am working towards that. I am going through with the most confidence ever,” he disclosed.
There was a bit of showtime also from the tall sprinter who looked back at his opponents as he went through the finish line, something unusual from the normally modest athlete.
“I feel like coach is going to be a little bit upset about that because he would have wanted a faster race,” Parchment confessed.
He also explained that he failed to execute the race plan as desired but made up for his initial error mid-race.
“We were planning [a fast race] but there are little issues here and there and I didn’t come out as powerful as I wanted, and I had to make up some ground in-between. But I maintained my focus, I maintained my technique, and of course for hurdling that is the most important part of it if you want to run fast times, if you want to improve and get more wins — and I think I maintained good technique,” he said.
Parchment will be looking to add the World title to his Olympic title in Eugene.