THE Youth Olympic Games experience has been one to remember for Broulee running star Jaylah Hancock-Cameron.
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The 16-year-old Moruya High School athlete secured the silver medal for the women's combination 1500m track and 4000m cross-country event in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Hancock-Cameron opened the competition in strong fashion, running a personal best time of 4:18.44 in heat two of the 1500m, finishing second behind Kenya’s Edinah Jebitok.
“I was going into the second stage of competition pretty excited having qualified second fastest, which put me into medal contention,” Hancock-Cameron said.
“There wasn’t really a strategy going into any of the races, I just had to go out and run the best I could.”
A solid performance in the first stage, was backed up with Hancock-Cameron clocking a time of 13.16 in the 4km cross-country race, an event that included both women’s 3000m and steeplechase athletes.
She crossed the line in ninth overall.
Thankfully for Hanock-Cameron, who now trains with the Bankstown Sports Athletics Club, this result was enough to secure her the silver medal – finishing behind gold medallist Kenya’s Edinah Jebitok and ahead of bronze recipient Ethiopia’s Lemlem Hailu.
“The races played out the way I had hoped for – I couldn’t ask for anything more,” she said.
“I knew everyone I had to beat from my 1500m, I memorised their numbers so I could keep track of them on the course.
“But I didn’t know I had won the silver medal until 10-20 minutes after I had finished.
“They had to add up all the points from the two events and whoever had the lowest score won the gold medal – as soon as I found out I was second I was over the moon.”
Although she’s had a very successful start to her young career, winning the both the 800m and 1500m races at the NSW All Schools’ meet in Sydney last month, Hancock-Cameron rates this achievements as her best to date.
“This silver medal means so much to me,” she said.
“Over the past two and a half years, I have made many sacrifices and worked extremely hard – that commitment has shown throughout my performances during these Youth Olympic Games.
“This definitely is my biggest achievement of my career to date and I hope it springboards me into more future successes.”