Darvin Edwards won his first outdoor competition of 2011 on Saturday under sunny skies in the London district of Battersea. But the 25-year-old also set two new records in the process, entered the world top 15 and the top three in his region, and just missed out on the qualifying height for the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, later this year.
Competing for Belgrave Harriers in the northern section of Division 2 of the Men’s Southern League, Darvin faced only modest competition. With coach Trevor Llewellyn and training partner Samson Oni - last year's British number four - looking on, the St Lucia record-holder waited till Richmond Wilson crashed out at 1.75m before placing the bar at 1.80m for his first trial.
The former CARIFTA champion sailed over at 1.80, 2.00, 2.10, 2.15 and 2.20, all at the first attempt. At 2.24m, the All-Division Southern League Record set back in 1980, he needed two tries, but he eventually cleared his best outdoor height since 2007. Then, the St Lucia international asked for the bar to go to a personal-best 2.26, but his coach suggested a centimetre more.
At 2.27m, Darvin needed a single effort to clear, setting a new meet record and more importantly a new St Lucia National Record, eclipsing his 2007 mark of 2.21m outdoors and his 2008 performance of 2.25m indoors. He had three trials at 2.30m, close but unsuccessful, so he is yet to qualify for World Championships, but he will surely be invited to join St Lucia's Pan-Am team.
With his latest mark, the St Lucian champion is now the 12th-best jumper on the planet for the 2011 outdoor season. Darvin is also ninth overall in the Americas 9six of the top 10 jumpers are from the USA) and third in the latest rankings for the Central American and Caribbean region, behind former World Champion Donald Thomas of Bahamas and Edgar Rivera of Mexico.
"This is just the start, man, there is much more," said Darvin, who dedicated his performance to his mother, Martha. "I'm happy it's pulling together." For her part, Martha was delighted with her Mothers Day present, stating how proud she was for her son, and explaining that she had been praying for just such a feat and that she was very happy for Darvin.
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