Mitchell eyes world long jump event

Press, 5 December 1986, Page 29

Mitchell eyes world long jump event

By

ROD DEW

A place in the New Zealand team for the world track and field championships in Rome next year is the main target for the New Zealand women’s long jump champion, Jayne Mitchell, who has just moved to Christchurch.

If all goes well, Mitchell, aged 22, will travel to Europe at the end of June to ensure that she reaches a peak for the world event, which will begin on August 29 and end seven days later. “To compete internationally you have got to gear your training towards the European season,” she said.

Unlike some other top athletes, she is quite happy with the new system of selection being applied by the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association for the world championships. Under this, athletes pay their own way to Europe and, if they are eventually included in the New Zealand team, they will have their expenses refunded. Mitchell is placed better than some others to take advantage of this, she has a brother, Tony, living in London and can stay with him. The qualifying distance for the world championship long jump is 6.40 m, and she has good reason to be confident about achieving this. She has a personal best of 6.43 m, and a windy leap of 6.55 m to her credit.

Mitchell, a young woman with a ready smile, looks back on her performance in the long jump at the Edinburgh Commonwealth games with a tinge of disappointment. She achieved a best leap of 6.10 m for sixth place but she felt that she could have done better.

However, there were no world-shattering jumps in the cold Scottish climate.

The winner was Joyce Oladapo (England), and her gold-medal leap was only 6.43 m, a modest enough distance by international standards.

“I tried my best, but I spent all season trying to qualify. I had eight jumps over the standard, and all were wind-assisted. It was very difficult,” Mitchell said. The new selection system will mean she can aim for a qualifying time just a short time before the world championships begin.

“I learned a lot from the Commonwealth games, and from a little international experience I gained before the Games,” she said. “Now I am getting to the stage where I think I can go further.” Mitchell, originally from Alexandra, moved to Auckland in 1981 but in recent times has been one of the stars of the Waikato representative team. She was coached by Keith Roberts, the former New Zealand director of coaching, but his move to Wellington left her without a coach. She has come to Christchurch to be coached by the former New Zealand high jump champion, Terry Lomax, who will be remembered as the first New Zealander to clear 7ft in the event. Mitchell came under Mr Lomax’s influence at the Commonwealth games where he was one of the team coaches.

“I worked with Terry at the Commonwealth games, and enjoyed the association,” she said. Mitchell has already shown her readiness to play a full part in Canterbury athletics. She made

her inter-club debut last week-end and earlier this week was named in the Canterbury team for the annual triangular meeting aainst Otago and Southland at Queen Elizabeth II Park. In the match, she will contest the 100 m hurdles, the long jump and run a leg of the 4 x 100 m relay.

It will, however, be some time before she is nearing top form. She hopes to make progress early next year, building up to the New Zealand centennial championships in Wellington in March.

She will be the defending champion in the long jump after a splendid victory leap of 6.24 m in Christchurch earlier this year.

A win in Wellington next March would be her third. She won the title for the first time in 1984 with a leap of 6.33 m. In 1985, the title went to Megan Clarken (Auckland) and Mitchell had to be content with second place.

Her national successes have not been confined to long jumping. Her first mational crown came in 1983 in the 100 m hurdles. That same year provided a glimpse of her potential in the long jump. She gained the bronze medal in the national championship.

Now she is approaching the stage where she wants to take on the world, and there can be little doubt that she has the ability to do so. The New Zealand resident record of 6.52 m, held by Clarken, is obviously within her grasp this summer. At any rate, some serious advances are on her programme in the months leading up to the world championships. “I am ready to give it a good go,” she said.