McGregor approaches PB, targets greatness
Published:Monday | May 31, 2021 | 12:12 AMHubert Lawrence/Gleaner Writer
Double World Championship relay medallist Roneisha McGregor is one athlete who has made good use of the Jamaica Olympic Association/Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association Olympic Destiny Series.
At the second leg of the series on Saturday, she raced to touching distance of her 400m personal best. McGregor’s winning time of 51.51 seconds was a solid follow-up to her performances at the same National Stadium venue the previous week.
Her 400m time was not far off her best-ever clocking — 51.36s in 2019 — and follows sprint times of 11.37s and 22.99s from the first leg of the innovative Olympic Destiny Series.
Her main goal is 400-metre excellence.
“My target is actually to be one of Jamaica’s best 400m runners,” she said. She hopes to emulate 2008 and 2012 Olympic finalist Rosemarie Whyte and 2007 World Championship bronze medal winner Novlene Williams-Mills.
“Rosemarie Whyte, she is one of them who has inspired me,” McGregor said. “She has retired, also Novlene Williams-Mills, who has run all over the world and performed at the highest level.”
NEXT TARGET
McGregor, 23, is just trying to refine her performances. “The next target ahead for this season is to just go out there, and once I execute, the time will come. So I’m not saying a specific time, but I’m just working for the execution.”
The refinements are paying off. Earlier in May, she notched a personal best of 11.35s over the 100m, and her winning time on Saturday was her first sub-52 of the season.
That dominant 400m run pulled 2018 World Indoor finalist Tovea Jenkins to a season’s best of 51.77s and raked in $100,000 for McGregor for winning an Olympic Destiny Premium event.
It isn’t the first time McGregor has used the sprints to sharpen her 400m prowess.
In 2019, she built up to her fourth-place finish at the National Senior Championships with two races at 100m and four 200m meets.
“Actually, I’ve always had speed, but it’s just the execution for the last phase of my race, it’s not really up to par,” she said. “I’m just working on finishing strong for the last 100.”
Her speed earned her an ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships gold medal in the 2017 Class One 200m with a nippy time of 23.19s and she doesn’t rule out new adventures in that event.
“Well, actually, I’m a 200m-400m athlete, but my coach has always said I’m better at the 200m,” she said.
In 2019, she joined Whyte and Williams-Mills as a World Championship medal winner, with bronze in the women’s 4x400m for her work in the heats and silver in the new mixed 4x400m relay. Understandably, she enjoys that event.
“It’s a good race, especially having a combination of male and female. I like it,” she said.