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Quanesha Burks Back Among World's Elite Long Jumpers, But Biggest Goal Remains Achieving Olympic Dream

Published by
DyeStat.com   Feb 21st 2020, 6:30pm
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Following first national title at Toyota USATF Indoor Championships, former Alabama star and adidas professional has big aspirations at Olympic Trials to qualify for Tokyo in both long jump and 100-meter dash

By Angela Mercurio for DyeStat

After going unbeaten in the long jump during the winter season and capturing her first national title at the Toyota USATF Indoor Championships, Quanesha Burks demonstrated she’s back, capable of competing again on a global stage.

Five months from now, Burks hopes to be returning to international competition in Tokyo following a similar performance in June at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

“When I said, ‘I’m back,’ that’s something I’ve been waiting to say for the longest (time),” Burks said. “People think, ‘Oh yeah, you’re back, you’re jumping far again.’ But I’m back mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually. I’m back as a whole. I’m back in every aspect of my life right now.”

Following a runner-up finish at the indoor finals last year in Staten Island, N.Y., Burks prevailed Feb. 15 in Albuquerque, N.M., with a first-round jump of 22 feet, 2.25 inches (6.76m), elevating her to the No. 4 performer in the world this year.

QUANESHA BURKS INTERVIEW AT TOYOTA USATF INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

Although it was Burks’ first national title as an adidas professional athlete, she had a decorated collegiate career at Alabama, winning an NCAA Division 1 indoor long jump crown in 2016 following an outdoor title in 2015, along with four Southeastern Conference championships from 2015-17.

With her performance in New Mexico, Burks achieved the goal she set for herself by jumping at least 6.76m in order to qualify for what was supposed to be the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China. World Athletics decided in late January to postpone the meet until 2021 as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak.

It would have marked Burks’ second World Indoor Championship appearance. She placed fourth in 2018 in Birmingham, England with a personal-best 22-4.25 (6.81m), equal to the No. 10 American all-time indoor long jump performer.

“We had a plan to go make it. My training was that I should be ready to jump a pretty far distance at trials to qualify for Worlds and be ready for World Champs,” Burks said. “But the ultimate goal was for the outdoor season and the Olympic team.”

Burks also placed fifth Feb. 15 in the indoor 60-meter dash final with a personal-best 7.20 seconds.

She secured her first national title in the long jump only minutes before qualifying for the 60-meter final by clocking 7.21 in the semifinals.

“(The official) called my name and I was on the runway to do my last jump and I was like, ‘Hold on sir, let me finish jumping real quick,’” Burks said. “It was the craziest thing ever. I ran and jumped. They were like, ‘Can we interview you?’ And I was like, ‘Wait, I got to go run the 60m!’

“So I went from jumping in the sand, not getting to celebrate because I had to get ready for the sprints, changed from my jump spikes to my sprint spikes, went over there and did one start out the blocks and ran the race … I’m used to it, but I know at the end of the day it wasn’t a hard switch to go from the jumps to sprints because everything correlates.”

Burks emphasized the necessity of speed training in order to maintain her skill in the long jump.

Although jumping remains her main event, Burks will continue sprinting during the outdoor season, hoping to open up her schedule with a 4x100-meter relay and then a few meets where she only runs the 100-meter dash before returning to the sandpit.

“I know I have the potential to sprint,” Burks said. “This year, mentally, I decided to take the sprints more seriously and my ultimate goal is to make the Olympic team in both events, in the long jump and be on the relay leg or in the 100m. I know it’s possible, Tianna Bartoletta was able to do it and I know I’m in shape to do it. My main goal is to make it in the jumps, but it can only get better from getting faster.”

Although the physical aspects of sprinting have continued to benefit Burks on the long jump runway, she keeps the mental preparation for each event separate.

“It’s totally different. I have no concerns or worries in the sprints at all. If I ever do bad, I say, ‘That’s not my event,’ and I walk off. That’s my excuse always,” Burks joked. “So, I basically don’t get nervous. As a jumper, you’re on the runway by yourself and you’re in control of how you jump. In the sprints, you’re with everyone and you have to be there. I’m glad my main event is long jump.”

Although Burks began competing professionally in 2018 in her first year out of college, it was not that big of a change because she was still in school and training in Alabama.

This season, Burks changed coaches and started training at LSU with assistant strength and conditioning coach Irving “Boo” Schexnayder. But the biggest transitions for her as an athlete have related to her mental preparation.

“Mentally, it is important for me to focus on myself and my confidence. I think sometimes people can’t let go of college, and that’s hard. You have to transition into it all,” Burks said. “When people say they had a bad year their first pro year, my thing is, ‘How is it a bad year? Why is it a bad year? Because you didn’t run your PR? But you’re healthy, you’re transitioning smooth, you made it to a final. You got to take your victories, your good with the bad.’”

Burks gives Schexnayder a lot of credit for helping with the shift in mentality and the mantra he taught her to always “stay steady.”

“Success in athletics is a long-term thing. Success is fleeting. You can’t get too high and you can’t get too low. Keeping a middle ground is very important for long-term success,” Schexnayder said. “(Quanesha) is a talented young lady who has only scratched the surface of her potential. She is diligent and not only concerned about her training. She is diligent about her psychological health and nutrition. She is all-around dedicated.”

Canadian Olympian Khamica Bingham, a standout for University of Toronto before competing internationally at the Pan American Games, Commonwealth Games and World Championships in addition to 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, trains with Burks at LSU.

“At practice she is probably one of the hardest workers I know. You have to fight her to take rest,” Bingham said. “It’s a weird day if she is not cracking jokes with literally everyone in the whole training facility. It’s definitely really quiet and pretty boring without her at the track.”

Burks’ dedication has shown throughout her successful indoor season, with much more on the horizon for her this coming outdoor season.

And if she is to achieve the impressive double by qualifying for the Olympic team in both the long jump and 100 meters, the opportunity to do so in Oregon is much more favorable, with the finals for both events scheduled one week apart in June.

Until then, it’s back to work for Burks in Baton Rouge.

“I’m so happy every day, mentally, doing what I love, and I know the marks are going to happen,” Burks said. “It feels good, like a breakthrough. The ultimate thing is trusting yourself and the process.”



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