Goule faces Paris challenge

Of all the Jamaicans in action this Saturday at the Paris Diamond League meet, it is eight-time national 800m champion Natoya Goule who faces the toughest challenge.

Goule needs a strong run to qualify for the Diamond League final after a campaign in which she has taken a timely approach to her ­preparation for next month’s World Championships.

The charming Manchester High, South Plains, Louisiana State University (LSU) and Clemson University champion has seven points from her previous Diamond League races but goes to Paris with the Pan Am Games gold medal safely tucked away.

The 800 metres league leader, Ajee Wilson, will be absent, but Goule will still have to deal with Wilson’s training partner, Raeven Rogers, and Nelly Jepkosgei of Kenya, who are well clear of her in the points standing on 21 and 19, respectively.

The slim Jamaican has run one minute 57.90 seconds this season, having recovered from a minor ankle niggle. Her coach, Clemson top man Mark Elliot, says that her training is geared towards to getting her really going next month.

“The World Championships is so late ­compared to previous years’ World Championships or Olympics,” Elliot said just before Goule became the first Jamaican to win the Pan Am 800 metres. “So we started everything later, like I’m sure every coach did, so hopefully, you know, it will work to where her peak is going to happen later in the year.”

Elliot coached her to NCAA victories at LSU and Clemson, to a Commonwealth bronze medal, and to a series of national records, peaking at one minute 56.15 seconds last year in Monaco.

Aside from Goule, sprint ace Elaine Thompson leads a Jamaica squadron flying into Paris for this Saturday’s meet.

Thompson, who, like Goule, is a Pan Am champion, goes into the 100m just needing to bolster her 14-point, fifth-place status to get to the league final. Her MVP Track Club team-mates Stephenie-Ann McPherson and Ronald Levy, are listed go into the 400m and the 110m hurdles, respectively.

Shanieka Ricketts, who set a personal best of 14.77 metres to snag the silver medal at the Pan Am Games, and two-time Commonwealth champion Kimberly Williams will set sail in the triple jump. Their opponents will include in form World champion Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela, Pan Am bronze medallist Lidiagmis Povea of Cuba, and the American who was fourth at the 2016 Olympics, Keturah Orji.

Ricketts and McPherson occupy the No. 2 spots in points in their respective events.