Forbes ready to deliver in the long jump pit
MOSCOW, Russia — Damar Forbes will feel the full red hot glare of the Jamaican track and field ‘fandom’ on today’s fifth day of the 14th IAAF World Championships when he takes part in the qualifications of the men’s long jump starting at 1:25 am (Jamaica time) at the Luzhniki Stadium.
He will be the lone Jamaican on show on the day, that will have just one session, in the morning only, but it is unlikely the confident jumper will wilt under the pressure or allow it to affect him in any way.
The recent Louisiana State University (LSU) graduate, who won his first professional event at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in France two weeks after winning his second Jamaican senior title at the JAAA National Championships, says he is not bothered by pressure.
“I am ready… not feeling too much pressure. If there is any, it is what I put on myself, I just came here to have some fun and compete,” he told the Jamaica Observer as he completed a light workout at the warm-up track adjoining the main stadium late last week.
The St Ann-born man, who moved to the United States with his family at a young age, and who has set his sights on James Beckford’s 8.62m national record set in 1997, says despite not been able to compete at the London Anniversary Games that was to have been his final tune-up, due to visa problems, he is not overawed by what he is seeing in the competition.
His win in France has done his confidence a world of good and reminded him of his own abilities. “It shows me a lot,” he said of the win in France, “that I can jump over 8.00m on any given day”.
Forbes, who will be seeking Jamaica’s second men’s long jump medal after Beckford’s silver in Sweden in 1995, said his immediate success has opened some eyes and put some attention on him. “A lot of people have been telling me that to go professional straight from college and go over 8.00m in your first competition is a big deal; normally it takes people a while before they do that, and I feel like I am in a great place and my confidence is up and I just feel good.”
His experience at the Daegu World Championships in 2011 and last year’s Olympic Games, despite not making it past the first round on either occasion, has prepared him for what he is to face today. “I feel like I have seen these people before, they are not new to me; I was never shell-shocked, I just felt like I should go out there and show them what you’re worth. So coming out of college I have been going up against them three years now, so it really wasn’t a big deal to me.”
He appears to be peaking at the right time, after jumping his personal best 8.25m at the Jamaican Trials in June, and the lack of any real dominant jumper, he thinks, has thrown the door wide open for ‘any card to play’. “There are no real dominant persons in the event this year, and I feel like I have as good a chance as anyone else to win a medal any day. I feel good, and I know I have a good chance.”
His absence from the London meet, as well as a one-week wait to get his Russian visa sorted out, he told the Observer, also limited his opportunities to prepare, but he says he has been using the time in Moscow well, and his legs have responded to the workouts.