Brooke Stratton has been around long enough to know when to rise to the occasion and this is the perfect time to shine with the world watching.
The 26-year-old long jumper was ranked 6th in the world to end 2018, but goes into the World Championships in Doha as the current world number 5. Long Jump qualification rounds begin on Saturday 5th October (12:50am AEST Sunday 6th).
“I feel like I’m a big time performer. I seem to always rise to the big occasions and hopefully this year it’ll be the same.”
“The Women’s long jump is really open this year. The German athlete, Malaika Mihambo, consistently jumping over 7 metres, but second and third place, it’s up for anyone’s.”
“So many long jumpers this season have been around that 6.70, 6.80 mark.”
The Victorian admits she hasn’t competed extremely well this season, but a new training regime has helped her confidence and says it’s now all starting to click.
“I’ve changed my run up which I think has been my issue this season. I just wasn’t quite running through the board. Was just hesitating and steering for the board. Hopefully that in itself is going to allow for more speed through my take off.”
“I took my run up back just over a metre. It doesn’t sound like much, but over 35 metres, it’s a pretty big change. I’m just trying to stay really confident and just believe that I’ve put in the work I need to do.
In 2016, Stratton broke the 14-year-old Australian record when she jumped 7.05m in Perth. A week later she placed fifth at the World Indoor Championships with a leap of 6.75m. At the Rio Olympics, Brooke was brilliant, placing seventh in the final with a leap of 6.74m.
Then last year, won silver at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, with a jump of 6.77m.
It’s been a long season this year for Stratton, with trips to Doha in May for a Diamond League meet and the World Challenge in Osaka, Japan. She’s since been in Europe for a month with meets in Germany and Austria.
“That’s the hardest thing just making sure that I’m staying confident and believing in myself. When you’re not getting the performances that you know you’re capable of, it is frustrating, but I think you’ve just got to stay patient and that’s what I’ve been doing.”
“We’ve had great stepping stones to this competition, and competing at this level is what you need. Especially with the Olympics next year, this is just the perfect competition we all need leading into Tokyo.”
Her season’s best of 6.74m is close to the automatic qualifying mark of 6.82m for Tokyo.
