Jamaica’s outstanding juvenile triple jumper Jaydon Hibbert has thrown down the gauntlet to his seniors following his new World Under-20 record of 17.87m at the SEC Championships, which ended on Saturday in the United States.
It took the World Under-20 champion, who has been in immaculate form on the indoor circuit for the University of Arkansas, just two jumps to establish the new mark which is up for ratification.
In his first jump when he employed the 12-stride run-up, he cut the sand at 17.02m, and on the second attempt, he smashed the record, a mark which is the joint 13th-best jump ever.
The former Kingston College standout was stunned by the huge mark.
“At first I thought it was a foul because I was like really perfect on the board and then when I saw the white flag go up I said yes, thank God, because I knew that one was a big one because I went all the way at the back of the pit,” he said in an interview posted on the Twitter account of the university.
Now he’s looking “to just reset, enjoy myself because which 18-year-old jumps close to 18m like that? So I’m just going to enjoy myself for one, and then reset, refocus, get ready for regionals.
“I don’t even know if I’m going to peak until World Champs because I’m not even at my peak right now and I’m already close to 18m, so I’m just going to go back to the drawing board and see what coach G (Travis Geopfert) says and then just have fun and take it from there.”
The Under-20 triple jump world record was 17.50m set 38 years ago by East Germany’s Volker Mai. However, earlier this year Jaydon Hibbert registered 17.54m indoors to claim the record, only to follow up with Saturday’s monstrous effort.
“The mark that I came out here with was like 17.4, 17.5 at max, but when I saw the 17.8 I just said okay that’s it for me today.
“It’s all about trusting the process, God has shown me in plane ways where I am talented, I’m obviously favored, so like I do put in the hard work but I have to give this one to God, because I don’t think there is any 18-year-old that does the stuff that I do, but I’m just honestly so proud of myself, so proud of my coach for keeping the patience with me and just being a good person overall to me, more than a coach.”
A few other Jamaicans reaped successes on the closing day of the SEC Championships on Saturday.
Wayne Pinnock won the men’s long jump with a mark of 8.37m. Roje Stona threw the discus 68.64m, the second longest throw in collegiate history, the third time for the year he had registered personal best efforts.
Fellow Jamaican and Arkansas sophomore Ralford Mullings finished second in the discus with a throw of 62m, despite injuring his ankle during warm-ups.
“I didn’t know it was that far to be honest,” Stona said in an interview posted on Twitter account of Arkansas. “But that throw felt a lot different. I stayed on it a lot longer.”
And Lamara Distin, the Commonwealth Games 2022 high jump gold medalist stretched her unbeaten run this season with a clearance of 1.91m on her first attempt for a fourth-straight SEC title.
