For the past two years, Tyler Mason has been agonizingly close to making Jamaica’s national team, finishing fourth at consecutive National Championships with the same time—13.22 seconds. In a country brimming with world-class sprint hurdlers, just missing out has been a bitter pill to swallow.
However, as he sets his sights on the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, Mason is determined to rewrite his story. This time, he's embracing a different approach—one built on patience, health, and precise execution.
“Well, I would say this time around it’s more about being patient and doing my own race,” Mason explained during an exclusive interview with Sportsmax.TV.
He admitted that in previous attempts, particularly last season when he was still recovering from a serious hamstring injury, he let the pressure of the moment get the better of him.
“In the middle part of the race, I think it was too much fighting in terms of trying to get to the line. I wasn’t really relaxed as I should have been. So that probably cost me, you know, the team,” he reflected.
Mason’s career has been plagued by injuries, with the most recent being a hamstring tear near the glute muscle, a rare and particularly painful setback.
“It was actually a tear from the bone to the muscle, right under the glutes. It was really, really weird, a weird injury,” he revealed.
The injury required specialized treatment, including platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy in Miami, and kept him sidelined for nearly seven weeks leading up to the 2024 National Championships. Still, he managed to pull himself together and deliver his season-best 13.22 seconds—just missing out on a spot to Rasheed Broadbell (13.18), Orlando Bennett (13.18), and Hansle Parchment (13.19).
“We still turned up and we still tried to make the team and still gave everyone a show, so I’m still grateful for that,” Mason said.
For Mason, 2025 is all about staying healthy. He has been working closely with his coach Renaldo Walcott to fine-tune his training program, prioritizing injury prevention and race execution.
“We’re corresponding more about what to give, what not to give, what to back off on and stuff like that. So it’s a whole different focus this year,” he explained.
That focus also means skipping the indoor season to avoid the strain that comes with transitioning between surfaces and conditions.
“I spoke to coach about it, and I’m like, ah, gonna give this indoor a break because the body has to acclimatize to certain things like the cold. Right now, we are just focusing on the championships later in the season,” Mason said.
He plans to race selectively in the lead-up to Trials, ensuring that every race serves a strategic purpose.
“We are doing it strategic this year, not trying to do a lot of races. There are probably some specific races just to get me in shape for Trials,” he added.
Mason vividly remembers the tense moments at last year’s National Championships when he and his competitors anxiously looked up at the screen inside Kingston's National Stadium, waiting to see who had made the cut.
“Well, I thought that I just missed out, you know, because as I said, in the end part of the race, I was kind of tight and I didn’t push as I ought to. So I kind of knew that it was a near miss again because I didn’t see anybody. But when crossing the line, I see everybody beside me and I was like, damn, everybody’s here. So I mean, it is what it is, you just have to regroup and come again.”
This time around, Mason isn’t focused on chasing a particular time—his only goal is making the team.
“I know once you’re running fast, the times will come. So we don’t really watch the times, the primary focus is just on executing, and the time will come. We’re not really running for time, we’re just running for placement.”
With renewed focus, a revamped approach, and his body in better shape, Tyler Mason believes 2025 could finally be the year he secures his place among Jamaica’s elite sprint hurdlers.