Jamaican Olympic 100m silver medalist, Kishane Thompson, is eyeing massive improvements in 2025 which will, hopefully, result in gold at the World Championships in Tokyo.
The 23-year-old, who was little known coming into 2024, came within 0.005 seconds of beating Noah Lyles and claiming Olympic gold in his first games last August.
"It's gone and passed," Thompson said in an interview with AFP after a morning training session at the Stadium East in Kingston recently.
"I can't look back. I mean, I can reflect on my mistakes. I know what I could have done better, what I've done wrong, but it doesn't help if I'm going to be angry. I've just got to accept it and move on. It's forward moving from here. I should say it was a great year," he added.
Thompson finished 2024 as the world's fastest man over 100m with his 9.77 to win at the Jamaican championships which preceded his Olympic medal.
"Honestly, it's a big stepping stone. It has a lot to do with my progress to being a better person and a better athlete," he said.
Under the tutelage of highly successful coach Stephen Francis, Thompson has changed his early season preparations this year, running two indoor 60m races, including a trip to the Kazakh capital Astana in January where he maneuvered his tall frame to victory in 6.58.
Thompson was also originally set to represent Jamaica at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China in March but ultimately opted against it, instead choosing to focus on his outdoor preparation.
With that said, Thompson admitted that his preparation hasn’t been perfect, so far, though he has definitely seen improvement.
"It's not perfect, the only perfection that I can see is me improving. If it's perfect, you don't have any room for improvement," he said.
"So that's a thing that I love about it. If it's perfect, it means it has reached its peak. For me, you know, it's always about bettering my best."
Thompson's legendary compatriot Usain Bolt set the 100m world record of 9.58sec 16 years ago, but the young man trying to follow in his footsteps said he won't be setting himself a time to beat.
"I won't think about times. I mean, the times are going to come once I listen to my coach's instructions and do, I won't say, the perfect race, but the best race at this given moment in my life," he said.
His sights are fixed on the World Championships in Tokyo in September -- and a chance to topple Lyles this time.
"Japan is the goal where everyone is going for the goal, you know? So that's the aim," he said.