A humbling experience - Praught-Leer looks to learn from 1500m disappointment
Published:Thursday | October 3, 2019 | 12:09 AMAndrÈ Lowe/Sports Editor
DOHA, Qatar:
It wasn’t the sort of introduction she was expecting from her 1500m IAAF World Championship debut and after last night’s disappointment, Aisha Praught-Leer is not quite sure of her future in the event.
This after making the switch from the 3000m Steeplechase this season to concentrate on an event that she felt could bring her good returns here.
Praught-Leer enjoyed relative success in the 3000m Steeplechase, winning gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Game and making the final at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, as well as the 2017 World Championships in London.
New focus
She, however, told The Gleaner in May that she would focus on the 1500m this season after showing promise in the event earlier in her career.
However, a seventh place, 4:09.81 minutes finish in her heat, which was her second worse time this season, provided a humbling experience for the Jamaican.
“We are going to have to think about it, see how this goes but I really enjoy it. I was enjoying the steeplechase and having success with it but I am really enjoying this new challenge and the training for it, but we will have to see. I want to be at the top level in whatever I am doing,” Praught-Leer said after yesterday’s run at the Khalifa International Stadium.
The run was only her seventh 1500m race this season and her first at a global championship, and as she explained, it was a real learning experience for her.
“It was really physical out there. I am not necessarily used to the physicality of being pushed and spiked and all that stuff. I moved around a lot, I tried to hang to position three or four and I did that well but I had to make a lot of moves to stay there. I think If I had relaxed a little bit more, a little earlier, I would have had one more gear in that last 50m,” she assessed.
“It’s a totally different game to steeplechase. Steeplechase is the fittest person winning generally … It’s (1500m) more tactical and I am learning. I was hoping I could have made a lateral move and become one of the best at 1500m right away, but it’s humbling. I am learning as I go and hoping that it will come together,” Praught-Leer added.
Only two Jamaicans have ever competed in the women’s 1500m final at the World Championships: national record holder Yvonne Graham (4:01.84), who competed in the 1995 Gothenburg final, where she finished 10th, and Mardrea Hyman, who finished 10th as well at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton.