SPRINT-HURDLER Megan Tapper says the Paris Olympics and the World Athletics Indoor Championships are both equally important to her this season.

Tapper is Jamaica’s first medallist in the 100m hurdles at the Olympic Games, with a bronze medal claimed at the Tokyo Games in 2021. And although it is natural to think her focus would be solely on improving to a gold or silver this summer, she also wants to be the indoor world champion.

Tapper finished at the semi-final stage of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, last August but says she is not letting that, which she describes as a setback, demotivate her. Having now completed a season of adjusting to Reynaldo Walcott’s training methods at Elite Performance Track Club, she says she is in the right frame of mind to “do some damage” this season.

It has been just under a month since Tapper has been in action in 2024. She ran two rounds of 60m hurdles (60mh) at the Astana Indoor Meet in Kazakhstan on January 27, clocking 8.07 seconds in the heat, then 8.03s in the final. Most athletes debuting for the season would not pay much attention to the time clocked as it is usually about conditioning, but Tapper says these were times to forget.

“It wasn’t what I wanted because I like to win, but the process is a long one,” Tapper told the Jamaica Observer recently, reflecting on those performances.

She then ran 8.02s at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston on February 4, then a personal best (PB) 7.98s a week later at the Millrose Games in New York. She has not yet competed over 100m, where her PB is 12.44s.

“Preparations are very hard,” she said of the season so far. “The Olympics and the World Indoors are this year so you want to get it right for both of them — not just to get one and then leave one. So while focusing on the Olympics, I’m stopping at the World [Athletics] Indoor [Championships] and I’m working towards being capable of doing damage at the World Indoors.”

Tapper is among a global field of competitors in an event during which a number of women could win the gold at the World Indoors in Glasgow in March, as well as Paris this summer.

Nigerian Tobi Amusan is the 100mh world record holder with a time of 12.06 seconds and boasted a 60mh season’s best (SB) of 7.75 set when she faced Tapper in Boston. Puerto Rico’s Jasmin Camacho-Quinn is another contender with a 100mh PB of 12.26s, but she has not yet competed this season.

The United States’s Tia Jones and The Bahamas’s Devynne Charlton share the 60mh world record of 7.67s, with performances at the US Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Friday and the Millrose Games, respectively. Jones’ 100mh PB is 12.38s, while Charlton’s PB is 12.44s.

Tapper’s compatriot Danielle Williams, the reigning 100mh world champion, is also a factor. With a PB of 12.32s she is the second-fastest Jamaican in the 100mh, behind Britany Anderson (12.31s), and has a SB of 7.79s in the 60mh. Anderson, who has a 60mh PB of 7.82s, has not yet competed this season.

But Tapper is not intimidated by these names nor the others who pose a threat to her. Instead, she looks at the competition as beneficial to the sport.

“In my event the girls are phenomenal,” she said. “I am completely honoured, and I celebrate how amazing our crop of hurdlers are, and continue to be, and will continue to be. I’m working very hard to not only be able to keep up with them but to make it to the Olympics, make the final, and do some damage there. Anything is possible with who lines up in that final. Danielle showed again that anything is possible. I’m working hard, staying focused. I’m shaking off the disappointments and bad experiences — stepping harder and stronger, coming with a vengeance this year. I’m trying really hard.

“The 100m hurdles event is spectacular. Not only do we have great talent constantly but my competitors and I were saying in Kazakhstan that, ‘Kazakhstan is so far, why are y’all here? Why are there a full 16 girls here that’s capable of doing damage in this race?’

“No matter where you go as a hurdler, at least four people will be there that will make it competitive … It’s just the best event to be a part of right now and I am happy that I’m there.”