More in the tank for five-timer Goule
Published:Thursday | July 21, 2022 | 12:09 AM
EUGENE, Oregon:
IN HER fifth World Championships appearance, 800-metre specialist Natoya Goule hopes that this will be the year she finally gets onto the podium.
Goule will be in action along with Adelle Tracey and national champion Chrisann Gordon-Powell tonight in the first round of the 800m which starts at 7:10 p.m. Jamaica time.
Goule’s season’s best this year was 1:59.31 seconds in Oslo back in June, but she has had mixed results, only making the top-three twice this year. She was beaten by Chrisann Gordon-Powell at the national championships last month.
However, Goule said that it has not deterred her mindset heading into the championships and believes that there is still another rung on the ladder to climb.
“There is a lot left in the tank. I have not run to my full potential yet. I’m just taking it in stride and going out there with confidence because if you don’t have confidence you won’t be able to achieve the goal that you want to achieve,” Goule told The Gleaner.
She said she suspected she suffered from the effects of COVID-19, but that the illness, whatever it was, affected her form.
“I was sick even at Penn Relays. Looking back at that time, I probably had COVID-19 because a couple of weeks after, my husband had COVID. I think that was it and I think that’s why I was struggling this season to finish my races,” Goule said.
“But I am feeling great now and I am happy and I just thank God for strength and I just want to go out there and do my very best.”
Her very best, she hopes, will be enough for a first podium at a major global championship to add to her 2019 Pan American Games gold medal in 2019 and Diamond League titles in 2014 and 2021.
“This is my fifth World Championships and making it on the podium would be the greatest thing ever,” Goule said.