Sharpe targets Olympic, world Championship cycling
Published:Tuesday | November 19, 2024 | 12:07 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
FRESH OFF her dominant showing at the Elite Caribbean Championships in Guyana, earlier this month, where she became the first Jamaican woman to win the Elite road race, LLori Sharpe has set ambitions on participating at more top competitions.
Speaking with RJRSPORTS, Sharpe shared that her ultimate goal is to represent the country at the Olympic Games.
“Of course, as a competitive athlete there’s always a desire to represent your country at huge international events, whether it is the Olympics or World Championships. If the opportunity presents itself, I’m more than eager to take it on,” she stated.
The 24-year-old has already secured two medals at the Caribbean Championships, gold in 2024 and silver in 2023, and has spent a few seasons cycling on the European circuit. She explained that the European circuit has riders from all over the world and gave her well-needed experience.
“There’s been some improvement in it not just being predominantly European and North American riders. There’s been an influx of African and Caribbean riders, there’s still room to grow and hopefully with time, there can be improvement in that regard.”
Sharpe revealed in order to participate at top-level competitions based on her event, road cycling, she has to garner enough points in order to meet the criteria. While she argued that this can be tedious, she has faith that she can meet those requirements for future events.
“The thing with road cycling is that it’s points based. Where your country is ranked in the UCI ranking system can put you at a disadvantage, so it’s up to me to accumulate as many points as I can. It’s a tricky system but it’s doable,” she said.
Carlton Simmons, head coach of Jamaica’s Cycling Association, explained that funding is a key component in getting the athletes prepared to perform well at the competitions and regards it as “critical”.
“Funding is going to be critical if it is that we’re serious about getting our riders on the Olympic stage. Corporate coming on board is going to be critical. Competitions isn’t the problem, the problem is the funding in getting the athletes prepared and getting them to the event for them to perform,” he said.