Long jumper Robinson happy with 3rd-place finish on Diamond League debut

WORLD Athletics Indoor women’s long jump finalist Nia Robinson says she is pleased with her third-place finish on her Wanda Diamond League (DL) debut at Sunday’s Bauhaus-Galan at Olympiastadion in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Jamaican, who only knew she was going to be competing in Stockholm four days prior to the meet, registered a wind-aided best of 6.80m (2.4m/s). France’s Hilary Kpatcha won the women’s long jump with a wind-aided 6.85m (2.4m/s), and Italy’s Larissa Iapichino was second with 6.84m (2.1m/s), also wind-aided.

Robinson had placed third at the prestigious Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland last Wednesday.

“Honestly, I wasn’t nervous even though it was my first time competing in DL,” she told the Jamaica Observer. “I told myself I was going to treat it like any other meet, because that’s what it is — a regular meet with a bigger title attached to it. That mindset helped me stay relaxed and focused on what I needed to do.”

Robinson, who said she is mourning the loss of a former high school teammate who passed away last week, said Sunday’s outing was part of her growth trajectory.

“I’m satisfied with the performance. I know this is a process, and each week I continue to improve. I’m very grateful… because it’s been a rough few days losing my high school teammate/friend,” she said “And I haven’t set a personal best since 2023, so seeing myself progress through the rounds and improve from meet to meet is encouraging. I know there’s still more in me so we’re going to keep building, brick by brick, meet by meet.”

Robinson, who also had a wind-legal 6.78m (1.3m/s) jump on Sunday — her best wind0-legal jump outdoor — has her eyes set on bigger and better things as she seeks to keep climbing the professional ladder.

“One of my goals this season is to compete in as many Diamond League meets as possible. I also want to stay high enough in the rankings to qualify for the Ultimate Championships [in September]. Before that, though, I have the Jamaica trials [in June] and Commonwealth Games [July to August] to focus on.”

Placing in the top two at the June 18-21 Jamaica championships at the National Stadium, she said, is her “immediate goal” in order to earn a spot on Commonwealth Games team.

“From there, we’ll keep progressing,” she added.

She said her longer-term goal is to become the third Jamaican woman to record a wind-legal 7.00m jump.

“As always, the ultimate goal is to jump 7.00m, [because] until I do that I won’t be satisfied — and even when I reach that mark, I’ll still be chasing more, so I am super thankful. Just a ghetto girl from Clarke Street, Mount Salem [in St James], going on God’s timing!”

Robinson was the only Jamaican to manage a podium finish as Roje Stona was fourth in the men’s discus throw and Danniel Thomas-Dodd was sixth in the women’s shot put. Assinie Wilson placed seventh in the men’s 400m hurdles, which was not a part of the Diamond League schedule.

Stona threw 66.42m but was off the pace as Sweden’s Olympic Games and World Championships gold medalist Daniel Stahl threw a season’s best 69.60m to win. Stahl bettered world leader Matthew Denny of Australia who threw 69.02m, and third-placed Kristjan Ceh (67.67m) of Slovenia.

Thomas-Dodd, who was competing for the third time in eight days across three countries, had one legal throw of 18.56m.

World leader Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands threw a meet record 20.89m to win ahead of American Chase Jackson (19.91m) and Canadian Sarah Mitton (19.89m).

Wilson, who has also been busy, running four times in just over a week, clocked 49.13 seconds in the men’s 400m hurdles. The race was won by world leader Alison dos Santos of Brazil in 47.11.

Mattheus Lima of Brazil ran a personal best 47.37 for second and Germany’s Emil Agyekum delivered a lifetime best 47.72 for third.