Levy looking forward to improved performances

Leighton Levy, Sunday Gleaner Writer

Fresh off her recent 100-metre silver-medal run at the Central American and Caribbean Championships in Puerto Rico, Jura Levy leaves for the United Kingdom (UK) this week, confident but knowing that she needs to improve going into the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea at the end of August.

Levy finished third in the women's 100 metres at the Supreme Ventures National Senior Championships at the end of June, supplanting Olympic 100-metre silver medallist Sherone Simpson, who many pundits had expected to make the team along with veterans Veronica Campbell-Brown and Kerron Stewart. Defending world champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has a bye going into the World Championships and as such did not participate at the National Championships.

Levy's time then was a personal-best 11.10 seconds that came after a long season representing South Plains Junior College in Texas both indoors and outdoors, and setting several personal bests over the 100 and 200-metre sprints. But with the leading medal contenders capable of much faster times, the diminutive former Vere Technical star, while happy with her CAC silver, knows she must get better.

Work to be done

"I will need to, most definitely, improve my times and the different phases of my race, because I have been having problems with the transition from my start to my drive phase," she said, acknowledging that she has work to do.

It has been a long season for the 21-year-old pocket rocket, but she claims she is feeling no ill effects. She has one more 100-metre race before the world championships, and that comes up at the two-day Diamond League meet in London on August 5 and 6.

"I am basically taking it one step at a time, because I want to stay healthy. I can't afford to get hurt right now and, so far, everything has been good," she said, explaining that her primary objective for the London meet is to see to it that there is improvement in the parts of her race she has been working on.

"I know the times will come. I am just hoping for a good race overall and that I come out healthy."

Since she has been home in late June, she has been enjoying spending a lot of time with her family and training at the University of the West Indies with the Racers Track Club coach Leeroy Gray. She will join up with the rest of the club's athletes in the UK. She is also relishing the opportunity of representing Jamaica and making the final at the World Championships, which she says is her main goal. From there, she said, anything can happen.

"I am pretty excited. My first senior meet and I got silver; I am happy. I am ready to compete to the best of my ability and make myself and my family proud," she said.