New coach, new Distin
High jumper already seeing results on account of coaching change
Published:Sunday | March 5, 2023 | 1:06 AMDaniel Wheeler - Staff Reporter
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WITH A new coaching direction, Commonwealth Games high jump champion Lamara Distin is seeing early signs of success in 2023 as she looks to continue building on last year’s momentum. Distin, fresh off winning the Southeastern Conference Indoor...
WITH A new coaching direction, Commonwealth Games high jump champion Lamara Distin is seeing early signs of success in 2023 as she looks to continue building on last year’s momentum.
Distin, fresh off winning the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championship with her 1.95-metre effort last weekend, has gone unbeaten this year.
Distin’s strong start to the 2023 campaign is highlighted by her twice breaking the national indoor record in February. Distin now owns both Jamaica’s indoor and outdoor records.
Distin was under the direction of Sean Brady last year, in a season where she captured both the NCAA indoor and outdoor titles, broke the national outdoor record, made her first senior World Championship team, made her first major global final, and won her first major title at the Commonwealth Games.
However, as fate would have it, she was forced into another direction after Bradley left Texas A&M.
“As I’m working with a new coach now, a few components of my training have changed, thus things will undoubtedly alter. I have faith in his preparation, and the way the season has started thus far has me feeling extremely good,” Distin told The Sunday Gleaner.
Distin soared to 1.94 metres on February 5 to set the new national indoor mark, before breaking six days later when she cleared 1.97m, the identical height of her national outdoor mark, set last April.
TRUSTING THE PROCESS
Now, Distin refocuses on the magical height of two metres, a mark she had hoped to clear in the latter part of her 2022 campaign. Believing it is not a matter of if but when, Distin is trusting the process.
“With the way my season is going right now, I think I’ll jump 2 metres or higher pretty soon. I’m being patient, and I have faith that it will happen when the time is right. God has set the timing, not me. It will come since I’m working so hard and believing in my ability,” Distin said.
The two-metre mark aside, Distin’s immediate focus will be making a bid at retaining her indoor title at the National Indoor Championships, starting on March 10.