Travis Smikle

Jamaica's throwing star Travis Smikle, who yesterday smashed the national junior record and the meet record at the Inter Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Athletics Championships inside the National Stadium, is hoping that his exploits will serve as a motivation for upcoming throwers.

Smikle, who was competing for the last time in front of the Champs crowd, posted the mark the best by a junior in the world this year and the fourth best in history with his first throw; credits his now attitude for his improved performances.

"I'm deeply amazed and really happy seeing that it's my last year and so my victory is one that I hope will inspire the throwers to come, seeing that I left a decent mark," said a smiling Smikle.

"The 19-year-old Smikle, an IAAF World Youth Championships bronze medalist in 2009, improved on last year's 58.56m silver medal finish behind former teammate Chad Wright, believes his greater commitment towards training and technique development contributed to his improvements.

"My attitude towards the weights training and also the throwing training really helped me to improve this year," said Smikle.

"I really didn't like lifting (weights) as much as I should but this year after some deep reflecting, I was determined to come out and work even harder."

The Julian Robinson-coached athlete, who also made the finals at the IAAF World Junior Championships last year, said that he was expecting to throw in the region of 65m yesterday, having registered a 63.96m distance at the Youngster Goldsmith meet earlier this season.

"I expected at least 65m today, so to get the 66.88m is a real thrill for me. I was hoping to get over 60m at the opening round and I have to thank God for that," Smikle said before noting that he will now turn his focus to the Carifta Games, which is scheduled for the Montego Bay Sports Complex, Catherine Hall, April 23-25.

"The aim is the IAAF World Championships so in order for me to compete against the senior guys, I have to be at a certain weight with each implement so I set a mark and I told myself that I need to pass this mark so that I can become competitive at the senior level," Smikle added.

It was 1-2 finish for Calabar as Fredrick Dacres finished second with 51.93 metres with Kingston College's Chad Wright taking the bronze with a throw of 50.55 metres. Xavier Boland of Kingston College broke the third record of the day in the pole vault, with a mark of 4.46 metres. The old mark of 4.45 was set in 2009 by Jamaica College's K'don Samuels, Azuma Davis of Calabar (4.20m) was second, while Hugh Lewis (4.00m) was third.

A cracker is expected today in the boy's Class I 100 metres as Bridgeport High's Jahzeel Murphy, the Wolmer's duo of Julian Forte and Odean Skeen along with Munro College's Delano Williams all looked impressive in winning their heats to qualify for today's semi-finals and final.

There was also action in the preliminary round of the 400 metres with the semi-finals set for later today. Calabar High's Malcolm Campbell leads the qualifier in Class III after winning his heat in 52.42 seconds. He is followed by Wolmer's Boy's Jordan James (52.73), who is the favourite to win the event and Andre Rodney of Muschette who did 54.12 seconds.

Travis Smikle