The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IN what has turned out to be his most productive season in quite a while, Donald Thomas has secured back-to-back medals at the two major international track and field competitions this year.

Last month, after soaring to the gold at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Barranquille, Colombia, Thomas had to settle for the bronze at the North American and Central American and Caribbean Championships last week in Toronto, Canada.

Now he’s looking forward to heading to Brussels, Belgium for the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) Diamond League final on August 31 to put the icing on his season that started with a fourth place finish at the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia in April.

“I would just like to thank God for allowing me to compete and compete at a high level and be injury free,” Thomas said. “To be able to compete and get two medals back-to-back is a blessing. It feels good just to be competitive among the top competitors in my field.”

Had it not been for more knockdowns at the Varsity Stadium in Toronto, Thomas could have easily been standing on top of the podium with another gold.

But he had top settle for the bronze as he matched the 2.28 metres or 7-feet, 5 3/4-inches produced on fewer attempts by champion Jeron Robinson from the United States of America and Django Lovett from Canada.

“It was good competition. The top 3-4 guys were jumping good. A few of the guys came from Colombia, but they didn’t jump as good as they expected,” Thomas pointed out. “Fatigue was a factor.

“I was also one of the guys who came over from Colombia, but I was able to jump pretty good. I guess most of the people who came from Colombia were more fatigued than I was and they didn’t get their legs back under them.”

Although he battled through his fatigue, Thomas matched the winning height from Colombia and he attributed his success to the hard work and dedication that he’s been putting in with his Cuban coach Luis Pinioli.

“I’m just putting my all into practice and listening to what coach says to do and just going out there and having fun,” Thomas said. “At this point, I am pretty pleased with what I’m doing.

“Going back and forth to Cuba, spending 4-6 weeks in Cuba a few times a year isn’t what I really love doing, but I have to do it to perform at a high level. This is a sacrifice I have to perform to produce at a high level.”

Thomas said his working relationship with his coach has paid dividends as he’s on track to regaining the form that led to him winning the IAAF World title in 2007 in Osaka, Japan – the same year that he emerged as the Pan American Games’ champion.

The last time Thomas produced these types of performances was in 2010 when he earned back-to-back gold medals at the CAC Games in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico and the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India.

Thomas, who continues to make believers out of those who doubted his ability to be competitive at age 34, was scheduled to compete again on Saturday at the Birmingham, UK Diamond League meet.

But having already qualified for the IAAF Diamond League final, Thomas said he has withdrawn from Birmingham so he can “recuperate” and get some “good training” under his belt in preparation for Brussels.

“I might do one warm up meet a few days before the Diamond League Final,” he said. “I know it will be very competitive at the final when you add a few European competitors and so the competition will be a lot stiffer.

“I just have to go out there and compete because there ain’t no one out there who is unbeatable. So I just want to go out there and compete and represent the Bahamas and continue to have fun.”

Going into the final as one of three Bahamians qualified, Thomas is occupying the fourth spot with 21 points behind Authorised Neutral Athlete (AUA) leader Danil Lysenko with 30 pts, Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim in second with 24 pts and Syria’s Majd Eddin Ghazal, who also has 21 pts.

“Based on my results so far and based on my training, I still ain’t 100 percent satisfied with my heights,” said Thomas, whose season’s best of 2.32m (7-7 1/4) is well off his personal best of 2.37m (7-9 1/4) that he recorded in 2016.

“I believe I can go 2.37 (7-9 1/4) or 2.38 (7-9 3/4), somewhere around there on any given day. It just has to happen that day. The difference between jumps and what I’m jumping is a minor tweak. So just getting into the groove, I believe I can do some big things.”

One of those big things is breaking Troy Kemp’s national record of 2.38m (7-9 3/4) that he established in Nice, France 1995, the same year that he won the gold medal for the Bahamas at the IAAF World Championships in Goteborg, Sweden.

“When I am jumping, I really don’t think about the record,” Thomas pointed out. “I don’t just sit down home and think about breaking records. But in the heat of the moment, I think it’s possible.

“Definitely, it’s one of my goals. I want to become the Bahamas’ national record holder. I’m just one centimetre shy of the result. It’s a pretty high mark. It won’t be easy, but it’s something I would like to achieve.”