By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net    

KAIWAN Culmer, considered the next Bahamian triple jumper to watch, has shown a vast improvement since connecting with his legendary mentor Leevan “Superman” Sands as his coach in Tallahassee, Florida.

The two united a year ago and over the weekend, Culmer made a giant leap from his personal best of 55-feet, 1-inch or 16.79 metres to a lifetime best of 55-9 1/4 (17.00m) on Saturday at the Ed Murphey Classic in Memphis, Tennessee.

For the 28-year-old Culmer, whose aim is to qualify for the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan in September, he’s in the right environment to succeed under Sands, the Bahamian national record holder at 58-0 1/2 (17.69m).

“I feel really good about it,” said Culmer of finally reaching the 7m barrier. “Could you imagine having a goal like that in your head for more than a decade and you finally get to achieve it.

“Even since I started track when I was 15 years old, I was watching guys jump this hundreds of times and for me to reach that distance, it was a major milestone for me. It was a big accomplishment in my athletic career.”

In achieving the feat, Culmer came through on his first attempt to place him in fourth place where he remained after fouling his second, third and fourth tries, only to get in another legal mark of before he fouled on his last attempt.

“The majority of the jumpers had their best jumps on either the first or second attempt,” Culmer said. “What is happening more at meetws is athletes are going on the rest side.

“So after the second or third jumps, athletes are now saving their legs so they start passig. But I tried to go for it because I knew I had a big jump in me. I just ran out of fatigue on that last jump.”

Despite not getting the white flag for a good attempt, Culmer said he felt it would have been well over the 55-9 (17m) mark and pushed him over further to where Sands feels he should be.

“We are just working on my approach because all year I’ve been having som =e pretty big jumps that were fouls,” Culmer said. “So we are just trying to get it to where it needs to be.”

Two years ago while he was home training with coach Peter Pratt, Culmer said they sat down and had a real “man-to-man” talk about his future.

Pratt encouraged him to seek another avenue to train and compete and he got hooked up with Sands and even since, they have been preparing him to become the next great Bahamian triple jumper.

“To be honest, with him, as an athlete, he had a lot of energy and he has brought that same intensity to his coaching,” Culmer said. “So most of the time in training, he’s been pushing me to go further and further.

“He’s just a great coach, probably one of the best in the region. How many people can say they have coached two athletes at the same time who have done 8.11m in the long jump and 17m in the triple jump.”

When approached to coach him, Sands said he knew that Culmr had the potential. He left his job as the Site Supervisor at Arawak Homes and took a leap of faith to follow his dreams.

“He made the sacrifices. came over and we started training,” Sands said. “He just had to trust the process and I’ve seen his progression where he just kept getting better and better.

“He was a little disappointed that he didn’t make the Olympic team last year, but I told him better things will come for him in his second year.”

Just like he did with American Jeremiah Davis, who claimed third place with his personal best of 26-7 1/4 (8.11m), Sands said Culmer proved that he’s right on track.

Both, however, are still a few metres off the qualifying standards for the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan . While the standard for the men’s long jump is 27-1 3/4 (8.27m), the mark for the triple jump is 56-6 (17.22m).

With very few meets for the triple jumpers to compete in, Sands said he was able to work on the technical aspects of Culmer’s run up and he watched as he came through on his first attempt.

“I’m extremely proud of his progress. It’s been a while since we had a 16m jumper from the Bahamas, so I’m really extremely proud of him. He’s learning and he’s getting better with the small things.”

Having gotten the feeling of what it feels like to hop, skip and soar over 55-9 (17m), Culmr said he’s more eager to compete in the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations’ 2025 National Championships August 1-3 and the NACAC CHampionships in Grand Bahama.

“I want to really get up to the 17-2 range,” said Culmer, who admitted that he just needs to improve on his approach and the distances will follow.

“If I can come down the runway with the same approach six times, we will be cooking with gas.”

And with his performance so far, Culmer said he’s certain that he can secure a spot for the World Championships in Tokyo after he missed the trip to the Olympic Games in Paris, France last year.

Having cleared 17m, Sands said Culmer has put himself in  position to get into some of the meets overseas, so once he continues to improve, he will get better and better.

According to Sands, the Bahamas can expect some big performances from Culmer over the summer. It’s just a matter of time before he pops a big jump.