After a year-long wait, Jamaica's England-born artistic gymnast Tyesha Mattis is excited to finally be back on the PanAm Gymnastics Championships stage, with the main objective being to repeat her World Championships qualification feat.

Mattis, who enjoyed a fairly successful debut season for Jamaica after switching allegiance, qualified for the World Championships on the back of a stellar performance at last year's Pan Am Championships in Brazil.  However, she was unable to take up her spot at the World event, which serves as an Olympic Games qualifier, due to financial constraints.

With that disappointment still fresh in her mind, Mattis is now eager to spring into action in Medellin, Colombia, as she hopes to surpass her performances from last year.

She will be joined by United States-based Kiara Richmon and newcomer Mya Absolam as Jamaica's representatives at the three-day championships scheduled to begin on Friday. 

The other team members Danyella Holmes and Jamilia Francis, both pulled out due to injury and a lack of readiness, respectively. 

"I am so excited to be out here to again represent my country, this is my first major competition for the season and a really important one on my list. So, I am itching to get going as I’m really looking forward to improving my performance from last year," Mattis declared.

That performance she refers to is the 48.467 she tallied All-Around, with scores of 12.867 on vault, 13.000 on uneven bars, 11.333 on the balance beam and 11.267 on her floor routine.

Though that, among others to date identify her as one of Jamaica’s best young gymnasts, Mattis, knows she still has a ways to go and needs to continue improving to bring her Olympic dream to fruition.

“You always want to get better, and I honestly believe there isn’t really anywhere to stop in terms of areas you can improve on, but I feel as ready as I can be," she said.

"My preparation has been really good, I have been working on some old skills I used to have in my routine, hoping to up my start value a little and those routines are going well. So all I can do now is try my best, I know I have put the work in and I’m just going to try my best to get everything out there," Mattis added.

The 23-year-old is no stranger to the big stage as she had success as a six-time British champion, two-time English champion, Australian youth Olympic champion and European Youth Olympic medallist before injuries derailed her budding career and forced her to step away from the sport in 2018.

But since returning and, by extension, switching allegiance to Jamaica, the land of mother Charmaine Clarke's birth, Mattis has shown that she is willing to put in the hours of gruelling work it takes to be an Olympic athlete.

Should she make the cut for the World Championships and go on to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, Mattis would join Toni-Ann Williams and the recently retired British-born Danusia Francis to achieve the feat.

"I think it’s safe to say I am much more motivated now than I was last year, I have set myself a few targets and I have been working really hard to make achieve them. My first goal is to qualify for the World Championships and have a clean competition and then getting to the Olympic Games is my ultimate dream," Mattis noted.

"But the journey starts here and so I just want to go out there and do my absolute best on the four apparatuses, but I need to do it slowly and smartly and then build from there. I just want to be able to jump high and flip better to make my start values higher and give myself a good chance of medalling," the cheerful personality ended.