Johanna Jackson delighted to breach top ten
Jul 29 2010 The Journal
REDCAR’S Johanna Jackson admitted she had achieved everything she set out to after finishing a creditable tenth in the 20km race walk at the European Championships in Barcelona.
The 25-year-old dominates race walking in the UK. She won last month’s Aviva UK Championship by nearly three minutes and her time would also have secured her bronze in the men’s race.
But after being disqualified at last year’s World Championships, Jackson had a score to settle on the international stage and she didn’t disappoint, coming home tenth in a time of 1:33.33 hours in Spain.
And, despite being powerless to prevent a Russian 1-2-3 in Barcelona, Jackson was delighted with her efforts in the stifling Spanish heat.
“I’m pleased – top ten was my target and I came tenth so I can’t ask for more than that. The best thing for me was getting round without any cards,” she said.
“I’ve gone from getting a disqualification last year to getting nothing this year but I’ve worked really hard on technique over the winter and it obviously paid off.
“To be honest, I didn’t want to think about last year at all while I was in the race. There was no point dwelling on last year, I just wanted to focus on this year and technically I was a lot better.
“I’m happy – it was a hard race but it definitely made up for last year.
“ I was lucky that most of the race was in the shade so I never really noticed the heat.
“I just kept trying to keep myself cool, throwing water on me every lap and it worked.”
As well as a top-ten finish, Jackson had also set her sights on ducking under the 90-minute barrier; her current PB is 90.41, for the first time.
But despite Olympic champion Olga Kaniskina producing a commanding display to take gold in a time of 1:27.44 hours, a sub-90 minute time was never on the cards for Jackson. “The times were a bit slow but I think that was the same for everyone else. It started off quite slow but I just wound it up as I went on,” she added.
“I was hoping for a fast race but position is all that matters to me. With 5k to go I think I’d slipped to about 12th but I just thought to myself ‘don’t give up on that top-ten position’. But I fought back and came through really strong in the end.
“I didn’t panic towards the end – I knew that some people would come back to me – they always do.
I knew I could pick people off at the end but I finish strongly and that’s how it turned out.”
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