Ricketts primed for medal

DOHA, Qatar:

Kerry Lee Ricketts, coach and husband of Diamond League-winning triple jumper Shanieka Ricketts, says that the Jamaican is primed for a medal at the World Championships, after a season of confidence-building performances.

Shanieka, who moved her personal best to 14.93m on her way to winning at the Diamond League final in Zurich at the back end of August, is a favourite to medal here in Doha after a season that also saw her registering four jumps over 14.70m.

The coach, who noted that the jumper is ready to break the 15m barrier here, is prepared to handle the extra weight of expectations and says that her performances this season have raised her confidence level going into the championships.

“Based on training, we definitely expect 15m, this is what we have been gearing up for. Basically, we planned to peak at the World Championships. We saw what happened at the Diamond League and that was just me testing the waters to see how she responded to me peaking her so yes, we are expecting something big here,” said Ricketts.

“She is definitely confident, she’s not over confident though, because on the day, anything can happen but she has garnered a lot more confidence,” said Ricketts. “This season, we have been consistent over 14.7m, and then the 14.9m and one of the good thing, this year was her responding to (Yulimar) Rojas when she took the lead in the final round of the Diamond League and came back with a massive jump and actually took the win, so that actually motivated her, taught her a lot, and helped her to mature as a competitor and hopefully, we can be on top of the podium.”

Ricketts said they have worked a lot on preparing her to handle the increased expectations here.

“We try to stay away from media to lessen the pressure.

We know it’s coming it’s a different feeling.

At the last World Champs, we were just going to see where we were. We weren’t actually thinking about how close we could get to the podium, we were just going there to have some fun,” said Ricketts.

Trecia-Kaye Smith, who won gold at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, is the only Jamaican to medal in the event at a global outdoor championship.

The other Jamaican competitor in the event here in Doha, Kimberly Williams, the Commonwealth Games champion, has twice medalled at the World Indoor Championships, first winning a bronze in 2014 in Sopot, before upgrading to silver at the 2018 event in Birmingham.