Triple Jumper Nadia Eke looks beyond the skies

African triple jump silver medalist Nadia Eke says her expectations were “above and beyond” met at the African Championships, and is now looking forward to learn from other experienced competitors at the upcoming IAAF Continental Cup in Marrakech, Morocco.

Nadia, 21, who was making her second appearance for Ghana after the Commonwealth Games, belied her age by producing the performance of her life (13.40m PB) to take the triple jump silver medal and also set a new national outdoor record at the African Championships.

The Columbia University track & field rising star’s performance earned her a spot in the African Team for the second IAAF Continental Cup in Marrakech, Morocco.

“I think my expectations were above and beyond met (at the African Championships) because I was focused on trying to execute to the best of my ability,” she told www.liquidsportsghana.com

“I talked to Profs. Francis Dodoo and Andrew Owusu about it and they kept on saying the same thing: execute with maximum effort and the result will tell a story.

“Going into the competition, my focus was on executing, executing and executing. I expected something big but I did not think I was going to get something that big. I’m very grateful for this experience,” she added.

“These women that I will be competing against have years above me and years under their belt,” she said, adding that, “If anything, I can learn from this competition as well. So I’m excited to see what the future holds for me.”

Eke, who has just started her final year at Columbia University, says she will be keeping the same focus for the IAAF Continental Cup despite the high profile nature of the competition.

“That is a much tougher competition over there at the World Cup. But the same focus, and execution with maximum effort, will let the results tell a story.”

The 2014 Ivy League triple jump and long jump indoor champion added, “I think the most important thing at this point is to continue with what I have been doing, which is just training hard and cleaning up my technique.”

Nadia’s international career has taking off in the right direction. Her measure of 13.40m bested her previous personal best outdoor record of 13.22m.

Her elite showing in Marrakech came just weeks after another impressive leap at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland.

Nadia qualified for the finals in the triple jump behind a Ghanaian national record leap of 13.14m and capped the Commonwealth Games with a 10th-place overall finish.

Born to Nigerian and Ghanaian parents, Nadia had a choice of competing for two countries but she eventually settled on Ghana. The youngster contends it was very easy to choose Ghana over Nigeria.

“Ga nyo jimi”(which literally translates: I’m a Ga-an ethnic group in Ghana). Let’s get that out of the way. I’m half Nigerian and half Ghanaian but I was born and raised in Ghana. It just feels natural to be on the Ghanaian Team because that is home to me.”

The Columbia University student showed grit and determination in snatching the second place at the African Championships in Marrakech and is looking forward to do same at the Continental Cup.

“There are always some nerves when I compete because I always want to be able to compete to the best of my ability. But at this point I’m getting more comfortable with channeling those nerves into aggression or whatever it has to be able to compete well.”

She will be expected to channel more of that energy to produce another world class jump in Marrakech when the IAAF Continental Cup gets underway on September 13 and 14. Ironically, this will be a return to Marrakech within a month of her silver-winning effort at the same stadium