Tracey saw the signs

WEEKS BEFORE the globe’s best athletes gathered in the Hungarian capital of Budapest for the 19th World Athletics Championships, Adelle Tracey saw the signs of a big performance.

A training stint at high altitude was producing times that meant one thing: she could break Yvonne Graham’s longstanding Jamaican 1500 metres record and the four-minute barrier. The signs were proven accurate in Budapest as she clocked three minutes, 58.77 seconds in her semifinal.

“We put together a really good block of training in altitude and I was running times I would run at sea level up there, so I knew I was in really good shape,” she recalled of the work supervised by her coach Craig Winrow in the hilly Pyrénées region of Southern France.

“I was running sub-four-minute pace in these sessions,” she specified.

The achievement of being the first Jamaica to go under four minutes commingled with the bittersweet taste of missing the final. Despite her record-breaking effort, Tracey finished adrift of the six qualifying places in a race won by eventual champion Faith Kipyegon of Kenya in 3:55.14.

That time would have garnered the bronze medal at last year’s World Championships.

“Of course, there’s a part of me that always wants to make finals, and that was my prime focus,” she confessed, “but on reflection, I’ve literally did everything I could and put myself in the best possible position to make the final, you know, going the fastest I ever have, running a Jamaica national record. So I’m proud of that achievement and I know that is going to set me up well in the future.”

She credits the all-conquering Kenyan for pulling the 1500 forward.

“1500-metre running, I think, has really moved on because of Faith. She’s a real champion in the distance. So she’s setting the example and we’re all upping our game. To say that I’ve been running the 1500 two years, probably training for it and to already be sub-four, I know that’s because she’s setting the bar and we’re all reaching for it,” she praised.

The elevated level of fitness carried over to the 800 metres, where she lowered her personal best to 1:58.99 minutes in the semi and then to 1:58.41 in the final for seventh place.

“I really feel like I am a different athlete this year, and obviously going into the 800, I think I brought that strength there.

“Obviously, we were focused on the 1500, and I still am, but to have the opportunity to go into the 800 and make improvement there and reach a global final is incredible. So I’m really happy with the progress I made there,” Tracey added.

She is the third Jamaican to reach a World 800 final after Kenia Sinclair and Natoya Goule.