James dreams of being world’s best
QUARTER-MILER TIFFANY James says she is determined to be the world’s best over 400m. James says to do this, she is just being patient and trusting the process. But she is expecting big things in the years to come. “I believe that in time to come, I will be the best 400m athlete in the world. I’m just being patient, and I know it will happen,” she told The Gleaner.
Despite many setbacks, last season was a good one for James as she still managed to make the National Championships final.
“I felt discouraged at one point. I got a knee injury and then a hamstring… I was overthinking the situation,” she said. “I knew that once I’m in the final, anything is possible. I came sixth and ran 51.73 seconds, my fastest time since 2016.”
Since graduating in 2015, the former Papine High School student has been coached by Bertland Cameron. He is the first Jamaican to win a gold medal at a World Athletics Championships, in the 400m in Finland in 1983.
NO MEETS SCHEDULED
The 23-year-old spent two months after the National Championships training all alone, without competing, because of an itinerary with no meets scheduled.
“It was a bit sad,” she said. “But I believe in myself, in my coach, and the little support I have around me, so I kept pushing.”
Her efforts paid off when she made her first national senior team for a major international meet at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, last year. It was her second-best memory in sports after her gold medal at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in 2016.
“Winning the World Juniors made me feel like I can do it, I can become a champion, whether it’s at the junior stage or at the senior stage,” James said.
In Doha, James only performed in the relays – the final of the mixed 4x400m, and the heats and finals of the women’s 4x400m.
“I think I did well,” she said. “I wasn’t nervous at any point at all. I was more excited. Everything that I was expecting happened.”
James wants to take part in the Tokyo Olympics next year, not only in the relays, but also in her distance’s individual race.
“The main aim is to lower my PB (personal best), which is 51.32 seconds,” she declared. The standard time to qualify is 51.35s. “It’s in my personal-best range.”
In Doha, Bahraini athlete Salwa Eid Naser won the women’s 400m in a time of 48.14 seconds, the third-fastest time in history. The slowest qualified time for the final was 51.02 seconds.