'The sky is the limit' - Coach hails Pinnock's comeback

WHEN Wayne Pinnock of Kingston College won the Boys' Class One long jump on Wednesday, it was redemption for the first=year Class One athlete as a year ago, he finished fourth after a severe hamstring injury ruined his chances for gold.

The injury ended his championships when he was favourite to win the gold medal in the 110 metre hurdles and was expected to carry points for Kingston College.

It has been an outstanding season so far for Pinnock, who had an excellent 7.99 metres mark at the Digicel Grand Prix a distance several were questioning because there was no wind reading. However, his winning leap of 7.77 metres on Wednesday proved that he is the real deal.

Pinnock's coach, Jeremy Delisser, who is also behind the successful jumping programme at Edwin Allen, was pleased with the youngster's effort.

"I am extremely happy for Wayne as he made up for last year's disappointment, came back more disciplined this season, and it has paid off," said Delisser, who credited the JAAA taking Pinnock to the IAAF World Under-18 Championships last summer in Nairobi, Kenya, as the turning point for the youngster.

"I must lift my hat off to the JAAA for encouraging promising jumpers as they took Wayne to Kenya despite his not being fully up there in the event, and after reaching the final, that really motivated him. When he returned from the championships, he told me that he was more encouraged and was willing to take the event more seriously. I hope they continue to do this with all the field events as our athletes have improved here, and we even saw in the final, where several of them, including Alexander Thompson of Calabar had a personal best of 7.56 metres," said Delisser.

Pinnock is also an outstanding footballer and hurdler and Delisser was asked if his charge would now concentrate on the jump after his performances.

Multi-sport talent

"Wayne is a very good footballer and sprint hurdler since his early days, but he kind of put the football on hold this season, as he was willing to get stronger, and he was more disciplined in his approach. We will not stop him from doing his hurdles as he is a multitalented athlete, and we will just try to encourage him,as he would like to leave the meet with two individual medals", he said.

Pinnock will line up in the 110m hurdles final today after clocking 13.83 for second place in his first-round run yesterday.

"He is an exceptional athlete, seeing what he has done in his first year in Class One, and the sky is the limit for him, and we will just take it stage by stage, and it will be interesting to see what he does when he gets more seasoned in the class, where he has two more years. I am glad he was able to overcome last year's disappointment, and like the Kingston College motto, he did not yield after his fall last year," said Delisser.