After strong opener, Texas A&M's Lamara Distin working towards Worlds, Commonwealth Games

By December 13, 2021

On December 3, 2021, Lamara Distin opened her collegiate season at the Woo Pig Classic with a leap of 1.86m that was good for a comfortable victory at the Woo Pig Classic in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The performance was particularly encouraging considering how close she was to her personal best of 1.90m, which won her a silver medal at the 2021 NCAA Division 1 Championships in Oregon in June.

“I believe it’s a great start to my season because I wasn’t performing at my best last indoor season due to a minor ankle issue, so opening my season with a 1.86m demonstrates how much I’ve improved and what the remainder of my track season will look like,” said the Texas A&M sophomore.

“Knowing that 1.90m is my personal best and that my season-opening is four centimetres off my personal best gives me confidence that I can do big things this season.”

The Jamaican champion credits her early improvement to her experience as a college freshman and changes she has made in pre-season.

“This season, background training is going great. After competing last year, I now know what to expect and what not to expect, allowing me to have a fuller knowledge of the sport,” she explained.

“I have been training really hard because I know what I want to accomplish this track season, therefore, new exercises have been incorporated into my training. I am working on specific areas of my jumps that hindered me last track season from going high bars, so I definitely believe with the help of my coach and his training I will fix that.”

With that in mind, and driven by her failure to make the qualifying standard for the Tokyo Olympics, Distin has ambitions of representing Jamaica at the major championships on the 2022 calendar, specifically the World Championships in Oregon and the Commonwealth Games in England.

“My plan for this season is to just continue to do what I’m doing with regards to my training. I did not make the Olympic team this year because I did not make the qualifying mark of 1.96m but now since the Olympics have passed and gone, my eyes are on the world championship,” she said.

“As I stated before, I am training really hard and I have goals that I want to achieve so the height will come if I continue on the right path.
Her first goal is to achieve the qualifying mark and then take it from there.

“I definitely want to make the qualifying mark to qualify for the World Championship,” she said.

“As it relates to Commonwealth Games, I am not far from the qualifying mark so I am confident that I will make the mark.”

 

Leighton Levy

Leighton Levy is a journalist with 28 years’ experience covering crime, entertainment, and sports. He joined the staff at SportsMax.TV as a content editor two years ago and is enjoying the experience of developing sports content and new ideas. At SportsMax.tv he is pursuing his true passion - sports.

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