Jaydon Hibbert back from injury

National junior triple jumper Jaydon Hibbert's coach, Jeremy Delisser, says he is now back in training and preparing for National Junior Trials after a number of injuries which affected his performance at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, last month.

Hibbert, the top junior triple jumper in the world this year with a mark of 16.66m, won the event at Penns with a mark of 15.94m despite experiencing pains in his right ankle and knee.

Delisser said Hibbert took time off to recover after a gruelling season in which he also secured victories at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Athletics Championships and Carifta Games, and he is now refreshed and back in training ahead of the National Trials.

"He has gotten some rest, so he is doing much better," Delisser said. "It wasn't anything serious, I think it was just three heavy back-to-back competitions and I think it (injury) was coming from the efforts at Carifta.

"He has started back training now and he is doing okay. We are getting up gradually into full training and we are not rushing anything at the moment, but he is fine."

Hibbert is ranked fifth in the world at the Under-20 level in the jump long competition with a mark of 7.87m. Johnny Brackins of the United States is the world leader with 8.06m.

Delisser said that he is not sure if Hibbert will be doing the double at Trials.

"He is definitely looking forward to the Trials, but fortunately, he has already qualified for the World Junior standards so he has a little bit of a luxury where that is concerned," he said. "Clearly he has to go to the Trials and perform and that is the intention for him to go there and give a good account of himself and then we will take it from there.

"As it is now, he will be doing the triple jump, but we are a little undecided where the long jump is concerned. We will have to look at various factors and then we will make a decision closer to the Trials."

The National Junior and Senior Trials take place at the National Stadium from June 23-26.