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Sharpe hailed for historic achievement
November 05, 2024
Following Llori Sharpe's historic success, head coach of Jamaica's cycling team, Carlton Simmonds, is hopeful her achievement will inspire young talent to take up the sport.
Sharpe created history over the weekend as she became the country's first female to win the Elite Women's Road Race at the Elite Caribbean Cycling Championships in Georgetown, Guyana.
"This can be used to attract young females to the sport and is something we can use to target the schools. It has to start there, to develop good grassroots cyclists," Simmonds said.
"I think she did excellent, it's the first time we're having a female winning that event at the elite level so that's an exceptional performance for her and us as a country," Simmonds explained.
Continuing, Simmonds says the sport's ruling body here, the Jamaica Cycling Federation, should push for wider participation.
"I think the federation also has a big role to play to attract the participation of boys in the sport."
Sharpe secured the gold medal ahead of Bermuda's Gabriella Arnold and Guadeloupe's Berenice Paul, who took silver and bronze, respectively.
For Simmonds, Sharpe's performance is not surprising because he has seen firsthand how she prepares for a championship and believes the 24-year-old has all the tools necessary to become a world beater.
"From day one she's been an athlete that is very focused in what she does. She is very structured, so seeing what she has accomplished from then until now isn't a surprise to me. Being around her and seeing the work ethic tells me she has a very competitive mindset and that is what propels her to do great things," Simmonds noted.
Sharpe's latest accomplishment was a step-up from last year's championship in Guadeloupe where she took the silver medal.
Simmonds explained that while the preparation phase leading up to the championships wasn't ideal, Sharpe quickly made the necessary adjustments to bring out her best performance.
"First you hear it's (championship) happening here, then it's happening there. Dates and times kept shifting so it becomes challenging as to how the athlete prepares and gets settled in a fashion where the mindset is where it ought to be," he explained. "However, with youngsters they tend to get around so the adjustment wasn't hard for them."
Jamaica's other representatives at the championship in Andrew Ramsey, Obrian Madourie and Damaine Douglas fell short of a podium finish. Douglas finished 12th in the Men's 155km, Ramsey finished 24th in the Elite Men's event, while Madourie did not finish.
