Fresh off a stunning 17.02-meter jump on his comeback trail at the Rome Diamond League, rising triple jump star Jaydon Hibbert has opened up about his turbulent journey back to elite competition, revealing how Turkey stepped in to rebuild his shattered mental and emotional health after a career-threatening injury – while leveling sharp criticism at Jamaican sporting leadership for abandoning him during his darkest days.
The 21-year-old, who originally hails from Jamaica, made the explosive remarks in an exclusive interview with *The Inside Lane* following his season-opening performance, a landmark result that marked his first major competition back after a debilitating bone injury forced him to the sidelines following the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
In the wake of his surprise long jump, Hibbert said he was still processing the emotion of his return: “My mind is so full right now. I’m lost for words, but I’m feeling so good. I am so excited, I’m so happy, I’m so thankful to God.”
The young athlete shared that he only restarted structured training in February of this year, and is still operating under strict medical limits as he works his way back to full competitive fitness. “I’ve been dreaming of hitting the 17-meter mark since I started training back in February,” he said. “But, oh my gosh, 17.02 meters on a short approach? And I’m not even in full competition shape yet? It’s going to be crazy when I hit peak form later this year.”
Hibbert said he was encouraged by how his body held up across six rounds of competition in Rome. “My knee’s not hurting. I’m just cramping up, that’s why I didn’t finish my last jump. My body and my nervous system are still shaken up – I haven’t done this level of competition in a year, you know?”
He recalled that he started the event cautiously, holding back out of fear of re-injury, before finding the confidence to attack the runway on his key jump. “The first three jumps, I was scared… I wasn’t running free. I was passive coming to the takeoff board,” he explained. “Then I thought, you know what? Let me just run, just go for it, nothing bad is going to happen.” Following his Rome performance, Hibbert says he is already setting his sights on a bigger mark at next week’s Diamond League meet in Oslo.
The triple jumper says his successful return to competition would not have been possible without the support he received after switching his athletic allegiance to Turkey, a decision he says was directly driven by the lack of support he got from Jamaican officials after his injury. “This is the right space for me,” he said.
Hibbert claimed that after he sustained his injury, not a single member of Jamaica’s senior sporting leadership reached out to check on his wellbeing. “There were times when I had nobody to talk to. Nobody checked in,” he said. “Especially since I got injured through negligence, the fact that no one even tried to reach out says it all. And when I say no one, you know who I’m speaking about. The only call I got was last year, when they wanted me to sign up for the Olympic trials. They just said, ‘Mr Hibbert, we don’t see your registration.’ I had to ask them, bro, do you even care if I’m healthy enough to even come to the trials? That just proves they can reach out when they want something – they just didn’t care when I needed help.”
In stark contrast to the neglect he says he faced in Jamaica, Hibbert explained that Turkey centered his recovery first on mending his mental health, the most critical step he needed to get back on track. “Turkey, they’re big on sports psychology, that was the very first step they took in my recovery. It was all about psychology first,” he said.
He revealed that the first two weeks of his rehabilitation program were almost entirely dedicated to daily therapy sessions, twice a day. “For two weeks, twice a day, I just got to spill everything out. I cried, I let it all out,” he said. “One time the therapist didn’t even understand what I was saying because I switched to Patois, but that didn’t matter. I just needed to get it all out – it was so depressing before that. Now I’m just in a better space.”
Hibbert said the support system built by his new national federation has made him feel valued and supported for the first time since his injury. “They prioritize my recovery, and it really feels like family. It’s a structure I can depend on when things get hard, because not every day is going to be happy and easy, you know? I’m just so thankful for them, thankful that God put them in my life to reignite my career.”
While he remains grateful to Jamaica for identifying his talent and nurturing his early career, Hibbert says the country’s sporting leadership failed him completely when he needed support the most. “I’m thankful to Jamaica too because they’re the ones who identified my talent and built me up initially,” he said. “But I’d be lying if I said the leaders of the sporting establishment there didn’t break me. So I’m thankful to Turkey for rebuilding me. And it’s just up from here.”