DESPITE winning her second-consecutive national senior high jump title, Lamara Distin expressed disappointment with her mark of 1.89m that secured her victory on Thursday’s opening day of the four-day athletics championships at the National Stadium.

The 24-year-old Jamaican, who has already achieved the Olympic qualifying standard with a season’s best effort of 2.00m, won the event ahead of Charity Huffanagel of the United States who also cleared 1.89m. However, Distin was awarded the victory after clearing the height on her second attempt, while Huffanagel achieved it on her third try.

Distin, a student at Texas A&M in the United States who is set to represent Jamaica at her first Olympic Games this summer in Paris, France, was dissatisfied with Thursday’s performance.

“I am not pleased with this distance because I know that I have the ability to jump much higher than what I did today,” she said.

“Throughout the outdoor season my approach has not been as effective as it used to be so I need to go back to the drawing board and refine it before Paris.

“I have a lot of work to do but I am confident that I will make improvements before the Olympic Games in Paris. I will return to the gym, work closely with my coach, study videos, and come back much stronger,” Distin added.

Nevertheless, she expressed happiness at retaining her national champion title this year.

“It feels good to be the national champion again because I know that other competitors look up to me. I want to show them that anything is possible. I am grateful to compete in front of my home crowd,” she said.

The Olympic Games is set to run from July 26 to August 11.