Ricketts aiming to ‘peak’ at the right time

PARIS, France

Two-time World Championships silver medallist Shanieka Ricketts is missing only one major global medal from her impressive collection.

Her path to triple jump success at the Olympics will be tougher than ever, but she is relishing the prospect of being at her best when she takes the field for the women’s triple jump, which gets under way today at 11:15 a.m. Jamaica time. Ricketts will be in qualification Group B with national teammate Kimberly Williams while a third Jamaican, Ackelia Smith, will be in qualification Group A.

Ricketts is chasing the medal that eluded her in Tokyo in 2021 where she barely missed the podium after placing fourth. Not even the absence of reigning world champion and Olympic champion Yulimar Rojas had made things any easier given the depth of the competition with the likes of reigning World Indoor champion Thea LaFond of Dominica and World Championship silver medallist Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk of Ukraine.

Ricketts has a season’s best of 14.67m entering the Games and while she has not been getting the distances she has desired this campaign, she is determined to get it right when it matters.

“This season I haven’t been getting the distances that I wanted very early, but the aim is always to peak at the major championships and this is how we have been preparing. And I think hopefully at this Olympic Games I will be able to get a medal this time. I was fourth in Tokyo. So the goal is to peak at the Olympic Games and hopefully get a medal as well,” Ricketts told The Gleaner.

She missed out on the podium last year at the World Championships in Budapest after what she called the toughest competition of her career. But it’s that depth which is fuelling her run to glory, having already hit the 15-metre mark last year, the first time in her career.

“The triple jump is at a very good place. Yulimar Rojas is not here, but I think that there are so many women who are doing exceptionally well and I feel blessed to be a part of that and to be a part of that history and I am just hoping to do my best and represent Jamaica. We have been preparing to be at my best and my best is over 15m.

Ricketts , 32, knows that being present in the moment in this her third Olympic Games is important. She appreciates how far she has come and what she can still produce.

“I’m all about being present in the moment because you never know whether you will make another Olympic team or what will happen with each season. I think it is just being grateful for the journey. This is my third Olympic Games. I don’t take that for granted. I don’t think many persons can say that they are an Olympian much less go there three times,” Ricketts said. “It is always an honour.”