REGON, USA — Jamaica’s Shanoya Douglas may have left the 21st staging of the World Athletics Under-20 Championships with three medals, but the highly rated sprinter believes she could have performed much better at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, on Sunday.
Douglas, who entered the five-day championships as the World Under-20 leader in both the 100m in 10.98 seconds and 200m in 22.11, won gold as the anchor on Jamaica’s women’s 4x100m relay team and silver in both individual events.
The Jamaican women’s relay team won in a World Under-20 leading 42.89 seconds, the fourth-fastest time, ever, but Douglas said she was disappointed with her overall performance.
“I have mixed feelings in this championship. Normally, I always get gold individual medals but I got two silver this time,” she told the Jamaica Observer. “The gold in the relay means a lot for me because I wanted to continue our streak and it means a lot to be able to continue that streak, especially knowing that I’d broken it in the 100 metres.”
The result means Douglas has won five medals at the last two World Under-20 Championships, including another relay gold and a bronze in the 200m at the 2024 championships in Lima, Peru.
The haul puts her among Jamaica’s most successful performers at the championships, a distinction that appears to surprise her.
“You know I never realised that I had that many,” she said, while admitting that she expected more from herself in Eugene.
Douglas won the 100m and 200m doubles at both the Intersecondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships and the Carifta Games this year. She is also tied for third all-time with American sprint legend Allyson Felix in the World U-20 200m rankings and is 10th all-time in the 100m, also at the World U-20 level.
Her two silver medals in Eugene, both behind American Mia Maxwell, have given her a different perspective.
“This championship has taught me a lot, knowing that it’s not always things gonna go your way, and I was saying that sometimes it’s good to control the controllable, but this time I was having difficulties controlling the controllables,” she said. “And I’ve been hard on myself this championship, and I was like, ‘Let’s come out here, put everything aside, and deliver for my country.’”
Jamaican women had won the previous four World Under-20 200m titles through Briana Williams in Tampere, Finland, in 2018; Tina Clayton in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2021; Alana Reid in Cali, Colombia, in 2022; and Reid again in Lima, Peru, in 2024.
Douglas was particularly hard on herself when asked to grade her performance on a scale of one to 10.
“A five,” was her instant response.
She said members of the Jamaican coaching staff told her she was being too hard on herself, but she explained that the standards she sets for herself are what drive her.
“When you have a standard for yourself and not been able to reach that standard that you set for yourself, it’s like a different mental struggle,” she said. “And it’s just I’ve not met my standard and the standard that I had for myself going to this championship.”
Despite her disappointment, Douglas believes the experience will benefit her as she begins her professional career. She will forgo another year in high school after signing a professional contract the week before travelling to Eugene.
“I’m still having hope. I have great faith in myself that in the future I will be able to perform way better going into the other championships, and this has taught me a lot,” she said.
Douglas also pointed to the championship format, which required the sprinters to run the first two rounds of their events on the opening day before returning for the final the following day.
“This has set me up for what is to come in the professional setting where facing difficulties will be a reality every day. So yes, it has taught me a lot,” she said.
She said she was able to rebound from what she considered below-par performances in Eugene and resisted the temptation to dwell too long on the moments when she performed well.
Douglas said the experience had reinforced an important lesson about the difference between expectations and performance on the day.
“This championship probably taught me that because you have the fastest time on paper, it’s who show up on the day. And it’s not that I didn’t show up on the day, it’s just that circumstances didn’t make me perform how I wanted to. And regardless of that or not, I’m trying to see the positive in it because I was able to leave the championship with a medal, three medals,” she said.