‘Wunderkid’ jumper Hibbert taking it one step at a time
PHILADELPHIA, USA — Kingston College ‘wunderkid’ jumper Jaydon Hibbert is learning very early to appreciate the scenery and he is not in a hurry, preferring instead to take things as they come.
What he has been able to do so far in one of the most brilliant seasons of any athlete in decades is to win at every stop and to put up some very impressive numbers in both the triple and the long jump.
Early last year Hibbert was just another name on the results sheet as he was second in the Class Two triple jump at the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Boys’ Champs with a mere 15.15m and did not even make it to the last eight in the long jump with a wind-aided 6.24-m (2.1m/s) effort.
Things started to change somewhat later in the year when he won the Under-18 double at the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) Championships in June with 7.34m in the long jump and 15.68m in the triple.
Later in July at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) Under-18 championships in Costa Rica he would win the triple jump with 16.02m and was second in the long jump with 7.31m.
That was the beginning as he would later take the silver medal in the triple jump at the World Athletics Under-20 championships with 16.05m and this year he has just ripped up the script.
As amazing as his 16.66m to win the gold in the Class 1 event at the ISSA championships was, it was not altogether unexpected, nor was his wind-aided 17.08m (2.8m/s) at the Carifta Games a week later.
Others were just as impressed as he was quickly snapped up, signing a scholarship offer with US collegiate powerhouse the University of Tennessee where he is expected to join two other former Kingston College jumpers, Carey Mcleod and Wayne Pinnock.
At 17 years old and still in 11th grade, the timing of his move has been questioned, but he told the Jamaica Observer on Friday after winning the event at the 126th Penn Relays in Philadelphia, “I am ready to move on, just trying my best to adapt and leave it to God.”
Before he gets to Tennessee, however, there is the World Under-20 in August in Cali, Colombia, the championships being held in back-to-back years for the first time ever because of the cancellation of the 2020 staging due to COVID-19.
“I have not set any plans, just to go there and to do my best, make my mom proud and to make me proud,” he said. “Win or lose, I will still be proud as I am coming from very far. Not many people in the world are doing what I am doing.”
After breaking the Champs Class One record and the Carifta record with his best legal jump of 16.46m (0.5m/s), he failed to break the Penn Relays record of 16.01m set in 2016 by former Jamaica College jumper Obrien Wasome, jumping ‘only’ 15.94m (3.8m/s) he was philosophical.
“Obviously you can’t [jump a personal best] at every meet, but I can win, I got the gold watch today and I am going to braff.”