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• Arkansas' McLeod, Pinnock go 1-2 in NCAA Div. 1 long jump final, Kentucky's Turner wins bronze

  Carey McLeod was crowned 2023 long jump champion as the 2023 NCAA Division 1 National Outdoor Track and Field Championships got underway in Austin, Texas on Wednesday.

   McLeod led a University of Arkansas 1-2 finish as Wayne Pinnock won the silver medal while Jordan Turner of the University of Kentucky made it a Jamaican 1-2-3 when he won bronze.

  From a totally Jamaican perspective it was a Kingston College 1-2 with Calabar High third.

  McLeod, the 2023 NCAA Indoor champion achieved the winning mark of 8.26m in the opening round equalling the facility record set by Steffin McCarter of Texas in 2021. Pinnock, the 2022 champion, followed leapt out to 8.15m for silver with Turner only two centimetres behind with 8.13m.

  McLeod is the sixth Razorback to win a NCAA Outdoor long jump while Pinnock won the program’s sixth silver medal.

  Meanwhile, Arkansas’ Phillip Lemonious was the fastest through to the finals of the 110m hurdles with a personal best 13.28. Fellow Jamaican Giano Roberts, representing Clemson University was also among the automatic qualifiers when he finished second in semi-final three with a personal best of 13.35.

  Rasheem Brown of the Cayman Islands, a senior at the University of Tennessee also ran a personal best of 13.53 to advance to the finals that will be run on Friday.

  It wasn’t all good news for Caribbean athletes however as Clemson’s Tarees Rhoden did not finish his 800m semi-final after leading at the end of the opening lap while Navasky Anderson struggled to a third place finish in his semi-final heat but his time of 1:48.79 was not fast enough to see him advance to the Friday final.

  Rhoden will have a shot at a 4x400m relay medal after helping Clemson to a time of 2:59.78 that saw the advance to the final.

  Barbados’ Rasheeme Griffith, a junior at Tennessee, ran 49.00, the third-fastest time going into the final of the 400m hurdles. He finished third in the last of three and fastest of the semi-final. Alabama Chris Robinson won the heat in 48.79 with Baylor University’s Nathaniel Ezekiel finishing second in 48.95.

  Jamaica’s national 400m champion JeVaughn Powell is through to the final of the 400m with a time of 45.02. The University of Florida junior’s time was the seventh fastest to qualify.

  Justin Robinson of Arizona State ran a time of 44.54 to lead all qualifiers into the final set for Friday.

   

• Following Racers Grand Prix victory, 400m hurdler Shian Salmon plots for a personal best and a ticket to Budapest

  Shian Salmon’s win at the Racers Grand Prix in Kingston was another step towards achieving a personal best this season and with it, a place on Jamaica’s team to the World Athletics Championships in Budapest this summer.

  Following her victory, the 24-year-old Salmon, revealed that while she was not pleased with the winning time of 55.10, was elated at the fact that this was her third win from five races so far this season.

  “My season is going awesome. The conditions weren’t what I expected but who cares about times when you’re winning,” said Salmon, who went into Saturday’s race off a 54.42 third-place finish at the Diamond League in Rabat, Morocco on May 28.

  “I came out here to win and did just that so I am happy with my performance.”

  The time might not have been important on Saturday, but it will be as the season unfolds for Hydel High alum who ran a personal best of 53.82 on that same track during Jamaica’s National Championships in 2022.

   “If I am being really honest, I am just trying to get back to my personal best and go beyond that; anything I get I will be grateful,” said the 2018 World U20 400m hurdles silver medallist, who believes a new personal best will assure her a ticket to the World Championships in Budapest in August.

  “There are three spots available at trials and I am aiming to get one of them. Whatever time gets me into the top three I will be happy with that.”

  Having beaten all the contenders for those three available spots, Salmon revealed, has boosted her confidence that she will be able to do so once again once the championships begin in July.

  “But of course (I am confident). I don’t want people to be beating me left and right so whenever I get the chance to beat them, I beat them.”

  For her next race, most likely in Europe, Salmon hopes to take a crack at her personal best that will further empower her to return to Jamaica knowing that only good things can come from it.

  “Hopefully, the conditions will be right and I can get close to my personal best but I am just aiming to perfect my execution and I will be okay.”

   

   

   

• Happy and grounded Jackson says nurturing mental wellbeing key to success

  Shericka Jackson knows that her many fans in Jamaica and around the world hold her to high regard each time she touches the track. But as an athlete who has had her fair share of ups and downs throughout a now sizzling career, Jackson is also aware that there are those that stand ready to badmouth her when things don't go according to plan.

  It is for that reason why the reigning 200m world champion and the second-fastest woman of all time over the distance, unburdened herself of the high expectations from others by virtue of focusing on her mental health, while trusting her body and coach.

  "I am not a person who cracks under pressure in terms of what people expect of me. I know what I am capable of, coach knows what I am capable of, and I think we are a good combination to achieve what I want to achieve, it is just for me to stay focus," Jackson said.

  "I said this before, I think 2021 Olympics when I never made it in the 200m, I think that broke me mentally and I had to go back to the drawing board and know that people will talk but you just have to focus on the goals that you want.

  "It took the hard way for me to actually learn that, but coach and I have been working on things. Mental health is very important to me so definitely, I try to stay grounded as best as possible, if I feel like I'm not in it for training on any given day, I go to coach and talk to him or I go to a therapist. So, I am grounded right now, I am happy, and I am definitely looking forward to great things," she added.

  Jackson's declaration followed another electrifying performance over 100m, as she clocked a meet record 10.78s at the Racers Grand Prix inside the National Stadium last Saturday.

  The margin of victory and the fact that Jackson had a slight stumble close to the end of the race, underlines the impressive form she currently enjoys, and the 28-year-old believes she is on course to possibly achieving more than she did last year. 

  This, as she reflected on the fact that she didn't hit the 10.7s mark until late June last year when she won the national championship.

  "I think I made a little misstep at the ending of the race which I think coach and I will definitely go back to the drawing board about because it happened last year at the World Championships, and it happened at the trials. So, coach and I will figure out how to correct those, but I am super excited, 10.78 at the early part of June, I can't complain," she said.

  "I wanted to run 10.75 but I said OK then I'll take 10.78, I actually wrote it down on a piece of paper because coach and I talk about writing what you want to achieve and tell yourself that it is achievable, so this time early June I am super excited for the season," Jackson, who has a personal best of 10.71s over 100m, noted.

  Having clocked 10.73s for the 100m silver medal in Oregon last season, Jackson is no doubt highly motivated to better that performance and secure her first World Championships 100m title, as well as to successful defend her 200m crown.

  The 21.45s she ran to win the gold medal in Eugene, Oregon, was a new national and championship record. Only Florence Griffith-Joyner of the USA (21.34s) has run faster.

  "One of my aims is to make it at the 100m because I already have a mind for the 200m. So, I am definitely motivated, I do not have a 100m World Championships title and that is one of my goals this year to achieve, it's just for me to stay focused.  

   "I am confident, and I am healthy once I stay healthy anything is possible.  I know I definitely can go faster, and I am working to go faster so it's just to stay focused," Jackson reasoned.

  Though her spot in the 100m for the August 19-27 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, seems safe, Jackson stressed the need for an efficient execution at upcoming National Trials.

  "I just want to run a solid 100m at the Jamaica trials because anything can happen, so I just want to ensure that on the day of competition I am ready and focused. So right now, it's just to work on certain aspect of the race," she ended.