Jackson overcomes fear and doubt

LILLE, France:

Many people were expecting Vere Technical's Shericka Jackson to challenge for the gold medal in the 200m at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Lille, France.

Jackson herself was a pile of doubt and fear in the minutes leading up to the race.

Strange, considering that she arrived in Lille with the fastest time over the distance, 23.32 seconds, and was widely expected to top the field here.

However, her unconvincing semi-final display, which she actually won despite a terrible start that forced her to run harder than she would have liked in order to qualify and get a good lane, caused the youngster to spend that night crying and worrying about her race; and it showed in the final as well.

Jackson, lacking in confidence and belief, was again left in the starting blocks and actually did very well to recover from fifth or sixth place at the 130m mark, to the bronze medal spot at the finish line.

"This was really a rough race for me," said Jackson after the contest. "I kept thinking about it from last night (Saturday night) and was a bit doubtful because of how I ran in the semi-final. I wanted to speak to my coach before I ran because I was very nervous and was actually crying before the race.

"When I got up, I realised that I was way behind and even in the race I thought I lost it, but I kept pushing and I am happy that I was able to get back in the race and medal," she shared, with a half-hearted smile. "I'm happy that I got a medal out of it."

Jackson isn't too happy though about the time that she ran; annoyed by the fact that she wasn't able to lower her personal best at the meet.

"I'm disappointed because the last two months I ran 23.30s and I came here and ran 23.62, so I'm disappointed because that was my personal record two years or so ago, so I'm upset that I ran that time here," she admitted.

She is, however, happy about the experience gained and is already looking to put it to good use in the near future.

"It's been a good experience though; I know that competing against the best in Caribbean isn't easy, but competing against the world is much harder. I am motivated to go back home and train harder and return stronger on the world level," said Jackson.

- André Lowe