Douglas hard on self despite three-medal haul

OREGON, USA — Jamaica’s Shanoya Douglas may have left the 21st staging of the World Athletics Under-20 Championships with three medals, but the highly rated sprinter believes she could have performed much better at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, on Sunday. Douglas, who entered the five-day championships as the World Under-20 leader in both the 100m in 10.98 seconds and 200m in 22.11, won gold as the anchor on Jamaica’s women’s 4x100m relay team and silver in both individual events. The Jamaican women’s relay team won in a World Under-20 leading 42.89 seconds, the fourth-fastest time, ever, but Douglas said she was disappointed with her overall performance.

“I have mixed feelings in this championship. Normally, I always get gold individual medals but I got two silver this time,” she told the Jamaica Observer. “The gold in the relay means a lot for me because I wanted to continue our streak and it means a lot to be able to continue that streak, especially knowing that I’d broken it in the 100 metres.” The result means Douglas has won five medals at the last two World Under-20 Championships, including another relay gold and a bronze in the 200m at the 2024 championships in Lima, Peru.

The haul puts her among Jamaica’s most successful performers at the championships, a distinction that appears to surprise her. “You know I never realised that I had that many,” she said, while admitting that she expected more from herself in Eugene. Douglas won the 100m and 200m doubles at both the Intersecondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships and the Carifta Games this year.

She is also tied for third all-time with American sprint legend Allyson Felix in the World U-20 200m rankings and is 10th all-time in the 100m, also at the World U-20 level. Her two silver medals in Eugene, both behind American Mia Maxwell, have given her a different perspective. “This championship has taught me a lot, knowing that it’s not always things gonna go your way, and I was saying that sometimes it’s good to control the controllable, but this time I was having difficulties controlling the controllables,” she said.

“And I’ve been hard on myself this championship, and I was like, ‘Let’s come out here, put everything aside, and deliver for my country.’” Jamaican women had won the previous four World Under-20 200m titles through Briana Williams i…