It wasn’t the way she imagined opening her 2025 season.
Jamaican long jumper Ackelia Smith, newly minted pro and NCAA standout, found herself lining up in the unfamiliar role of lead-off leg in a women’s 4x400m relay at the Texas Relays — a move she still hasn’t quite forgiven her coach Eldrick Floreal for.
“I really didn’t plan to start my season with the 4x4!” she said, laughing. “Coach Flo was like, ‘Ackelia, I need someone else to run a 4x4 leg.’ I was like, ‘If I’m running a 4x4, I’m not jumping.’ And he goes, ‘I’m making the deal.’”
Smith thought she might sneak onto the third leg, maybe even anchor. No such luck.
“Day of the meet, Coach calls me, ‘You’re running first leg.’ I was like — are you crazy?!”
Despite her protests, Smith clocked a respectable 53.5 split. Still, she’s not signing up for another one anytime soon.
“I was praying to God not to run a 56. Then everyone else ran, like, a 50. It’s definitely not bad, but I don’t think I want to do it again,” she chuckled. “I learned my lesson — never again.”
The relay was more comedic relief than career highlight. The main event — her first long jump competition of the year — was more in line with expectations.
Smith opened her professional career with a 6.74m effort, enough to win the event and shake off the rust.
“It wasn’t a terrible start,” she said. “And it was actually my first win as a professional athlete, which is special.”
While she would have preferred a seven-metre jump, Smith said the performance gave her a clear picture of where she stands and what needs sharpening — particularly her run-up connection.
“I’ve really just started working on my run-up. I need to get that right — not perfect, but good enough — by August. It’s definitely showing that I’ve been out for a minute,” she said.
The transition to professional training has been anything but easy. No longer guided by the rhythms of the NCAA calendar, Smith has been putting in what she calls the toughest background work of her life.
“I came to practice and Coach Flo was like, ‘You’re not a collegiate athlete no more!’ That’s the first thing I heard — every day. It was the worst background season of my life!”
Smith says the switch in mindset has been dramatic. Collegiate seasons were about scoring points for the team — now, it's about refining everything, even the tiniest flaws.
“Through college, it was like, ‘Don’t fix what’s not broken.’ Now it’s like, ‘Let’s fix all the little dirty habits you’ve been ignoring.’ And it’s hard. It’s tedious. But I’m seeing tiny improvements,” Smith said.
With no indoor season under her belt and her body still fresh, Smith is playing the long game in 2025. The World Athletics Championships in Tokyo this September is the target, and every meet before then is just another step toward peaking at the right time.
“I’d love to be over seven metres by the Jamaica Trials,” she said. “But even if I’m not, I only need to be ready to jump seven when the World Championships come around.”
She’s confident that, under Coach Flo’s guidance and with more time to iron out those little technical issues, she’ll go beyond her 7.10m personal best.
And just in case anyone’s wondering: yes, she’s still planning to jump, not run.
“I was ready to start the season with jumping. I did not think Coach Flo would throw me on a 4x4. But he did. And I learned my lesson — never again,” she laughed.