McPherson vows to come back stronger

Stephenie Ann McPherson said that her performance in the final of the 400m final at the 2018 Commonwealth Games will have no effect on how she approaches the rest of the season and the World Championship season next year.

McPherson, who won the event four years ago in Glasgow, finished third in the final on Wednesday, to claim the bronze medal in a time of 50.92 seconds.

Her teammate, Anastasia Le-Roy, finished second with a personal best of 50.57 seconds. Botswana’s Amantle Montsho won the event in 50.15 seconds.

“I am a very confident person. If I had won, it wouldn’t change how I approach the (following) season,” McPherson told STAR Sports. “I gain confidence in training when I see good results. That is my confidence booster. I know what winning shape is and I can feel it in training.” McPherson is among a handful of female Jamaican quarter-milers to have gone under 50 seconds. She broke the barrier in 2013, when she registered her personal best 49.92 seconds. In that same year, she won a bronze medal at the IAAF World Athletics Championship in Moscow, Russia, in 2013. But the former Manning’s School athlete has been battling a series of injury in the last few seasons. “Although she has managed to make the final in the event at the last three global championships, McPherson has been plagued with injuries since she won gold at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games,” her coach Paul Francis said recently. The IAAF World Championships will take place in Doha, Qatar, between September 28 and October 6, 2019.

COLLIN REID PHOTO COURTESY OF GUARDIAN LIFE, COURTS JAMAICA, VMBS, SPORTS DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION AND ALLIANCE INVESTMENTS. Amantle Montsho (left) of Botswana wins gold in the women’s 400m in 50.15 seconds ahead of Jamaicans Anastasia Le-Roy (right), 50.57 seconds, and Stephenie Ann McPherson (second left), 50.93 at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Australia, on...