Smith a possible future jumps flag-bearer
Published:Tuesday | October 12, 2021 | 12:08 AMHubert Lawrence/Gleaner Writer
Ackelia Smith might just be the one to take over from out stars in the horizontal jumps. Smith’s boundless potential has prompted Jeremy DeLisser, her jumps coach at Edwin Allen High School, to name her as a possible successor to the likes of Shanieka Ricketts and Kimberly Williams as she begins a scholarship at the University of Texas in the United States.
Winner of the triple jump at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) in May, and ninth at the World Athletics Under 20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, in August, Smith has an equally impressive long jump curriculum vitae, and DeLisser believes she will do well in both disciplines.
“I believe she has the right temperament, she has the God-given talent, and I think if she continues focusing, get it right, I think she will be the one to take over from the senior girls, whether it be in the long jump or the triple jump because she’s talented in both events,” he said. “I think she can excel in both events, actually.”
HISTORY IN LONG JUMP
The James Hill, Clarendon, native has won Champs gold in the long jump in Classes Two and Three and did an Under-18 long-triple double at the 2018 Carifta Games. Slim and speedy on the runway, she secured a triple jump victory at the 2019 Penn Relays and boomed out a 13.42m winner at Champs this year. At the National Championships, she stretched out to 13.47m, a Jamaican under-20 record.
That distance placed the 19-year-old 10th in the world among juniors, and she has a long jump personal best of 6.22m as well. In the latter event, she was second at Champs in the 2019 Class Two final and in the 2021 Class One final, with Shantae Foreman taking gold on both of those occasions.
Smith has joined her former schoolmate Kevona Davis, fellow Jamaican Stacey Ann Williams, and Barbadian 400m record holder Jonathan Jones at Texas, where the coaching staff is headed by Edrick Floréal, who tutored Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico, and American Kendra Harrison to gold and silver, respectively, in the 100m hurdles at the Olympics this year.
Davis and Williams both reached the NCAA final in their respective events, the 200 and the 400 metres, and Williams ran for Jamaica in Tokyo.
Floréal directed Tara Davis to a long jump gold at the NCAA Championships, a US collegiate indoor record of 6.93m, and sixth place in the Olympic final in Tokyo.
DeLisser says Floréal agrees with his assessment of the young athlete.
“The coach believes she has a lot of scope and a lot of room for improvement,” DeLisser said.