High jumpers on the way up

Lamara Distin and Kimberly Williamson made 2022 perhaps the greatest season for Jamaica in the high jump by reaching the World Athletics Championships final in Eugene, Oregon and then winning gold and bronze, respectively, at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. Their success has made Lushane Wilson shift into high gear. Now, he is poised for a breakthrough as shown at the recent Queen’s/Grace Jackson Invitational, where he cleared a personal best 2.26 metres.

He is joint number two on the all-time Jamaica performance list. In addition, Wilson, who is based at the G.C. Foster College for Physical Education and Sport, also tried 2.29m for the first time ever.

After his victory over an equally happy Kristoff Bryan, Wilson admitted to wishing he, too, had been in Eugene and Birmingham.

“In my eyes, I should have gone, but so it is,” he said as his broad smile disappeared for a moment. “I can’t really be down on myself. I just have to move on and get better and better.”

He had his first miss at 2.20 metres, as blustery conditions inside the National Stadium made jumping a chore. With Bryan up for the battle, Wilson had to counter. As the bar went up, his consistent approach run seemed to help.

“It is really good, to be honest, and, previously, I was using 11 strides. But now I’m using nine and it feels good too. We’ll see what we can do from that,” he said.

Both men were on deck at 2.26m, with Wilson successful. The victor then tried 2.29m.

“I’m all smiles for both me and my coach, Marlon Gayle. It’s a great feeling,” he said, allowing himself to celebrate a little.

He missed on all three attempts at 2.29m but may have better luck later in the season as he pursues the World Athletics Championships standard of 2.32m.

Bryan was delighted with his day’s work.

“I can’t even put it into words but it was more than I expected. I would have been happy five-striding 2.15m. When I cleared 2.20m, I was, like, I can do something here. So I just went for it at 2.23m and I ended up clearing it”, said the MVP jumper.

He joined the MVP last January but this year his preparation is better.

“I came back earlier, full background training. I have everything in place now. So it’s about building and going on through the season”, he offered cheerfully.

After a competition where he used a five-stride approach, Bryan revealed the dream that made him endure injury, knee surgery and the hard work to reach new heights.

“The dream is to represent Jamaica at the World Championships, at the senior level, that is,” said the man who finished fourth at the 2014 World Under-20 Championships for Jamaica.

-Hubert Lawrence