Birmingham, England – The ever-dependable Shaneika Ricketts handed Jamaica a third gold medal at the ongoing 22nd Commonwealth Games here on Friday night with a new Games Record 14-94m (1.4mps) in the women’s triple jump.
Ricketts, second at the recent World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, last month, produced a season’s best to defeat Thea Lafond of Dominica with 14.39m (0.9mps) and England’s Naomi Metzger with a personal best 14.37m (0.7mps).
Jamaica’s two-time defending champion Kimberly Williams had to settle for fourth place with a best jump of 14.25m (1.2mps), with Jamaica’s third representative in the final, Ackelia Smith finishing sixth with 13.83m (0.5mps).
The gold has increased Jamaica’s medal tally to six, three gold, two silver and a bronze, to remain in 11th place on the medals table. Australia continue to lead with 140 medals, 50 gold, 44 silver and 46 bronze. England are next with 131 medals consisting of 47 gold, 46 silver and 38 bronze.
But in the absence of world record holder and the dominant jumper over the past few years, Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas, Ricketts exhibited her consistency and obliged as the event favourite by establishing the new mark from the very first jump in wintry conditions.
“It’s very cold tonight so I knew that the conditions weren’t ideal for the best jumps, so I wanted to get something out early, similar to what happened in Eugene (at World Championships) and hopefully build on that,” she told the media.
The 30-year-old who finished second to compatriot Williams at the Australian edition four years ago, added of the new Games Record first jump: “It felt good, I know it wasn’t the best of execution but it felt like it was somewhere over 14.9, so I knew that it could basically challenge the record and when I saw the result come up I knew that yes I definitely did it.”
Though she opened with the record, Ricketts found it difficult to register another mark for the next three attempts, before closing out with 13.95m and 14.61m, which would have still been enough to win.
“I feel pretty good when you put in all the hard work and then to be finally on top of the podium is definitely a great feeling,” she said, before explaining the difficulties she encountered with the change of wind direction in the middle of the series.
“The wind kept switching and when I’m behind the board I know, so it doesn’t make any sense to give the effort and I know that it would be less than what I have in the first round, and I was extremely cold as well.”
Williams on the other hand was never in a medal position though she jumped consistently in the low 14m range on five of the six attempts, while Smith was consistent in the mid 13m range.
Meanwhile, O’dayne Richards 19.90m but could only claim sixth place in the men’s shot put final won by New Zealand’s Tom Walsh with 22.26m.
Compatriot Jacko Gill finished second with a personal best of 21.90m, and England’s Scott Lincoln was third with 20.57m.
In the men’s 400m semi-finals, Anthony Cox and Nathon Allen advanced to Sunday’s final. Allen finished second in his semis with 45.99 seconds to qualify automatically, while Cox, who was third in his semis, qualified as the fastest loser with 45.98 seconds.
The other Jamaican, Jevaughn Powell finished third in his semis with 46.40 seconds but failed to advance.
Elaine Thompson-Herah inched closer to a sprint double when she won her 200m semis in 22.63 seconds, the fastest heading into Saturday night’s final.
Teammate Natalliah Whyte also advanced with 23.09 seconds after finishing second in her semis.
Junelle Bromfield moved into Sunday’s final of the women’s 400m after clocking 52.18 seconds in a semis won by Barbadian Sada Williams in 51.59 seconds.
There was disappointment for Jamaica in the men’s 200m semis as Kadian Goldson placed sixth in 21.13 seconds in his heat which was nowhere close enough to make the final.
However, the Caribbean will be represented by Jareem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago.
In Friday’s morning session, Smith who was sixth in the triple jump cut the sand at 6.35m for fifth place in the women’s long jump semis ahead of Sunday’s final.
Megan Tapper (12.68) and Daniele Williams (12.80) advanced from the 100m hurdles semis into Sunday’s final, while Jamaica (3:05,20 minutes) advanced to Sunday’s final of the men’s 4x400m relay after finishing second to Botswana (3:05.11 minutes) in their semi-final heat.
On Saturday morning, the women’s high jump final will be contested with Lamara Distin and Kimberly Williamson being Jamaica’s representatives, and the semi-finals of the women’s 4x100m relay as well.
In the afternoon session, the women’s 400m hurdles final with three Jamaicans – Shiann Salmon, Janieve Russell and Rushell Clayton – looking for a sweep of the medals, will be on tap, along with the women’s 800m final (Natoya Goule), and the men’s 400m hurdles final with Jaheel Hyde seeking a medal.
