Jumper star takes flight

Jacob Zorzella will be looking to add a third championship to his trophy case during the junior Pan Am Games.

This summer triple jumper Zorzella has been winning gold medal after gold medal. First up was the Canadian Track and Field Championships, which he won with a jump of 15.14. Then it was off to junior nationals in Charlottetown, PEI.

There Zorzella improved on his personal best and landed 15.19 metres away from the board to win the gold medal.

Despite all of his success he has had this year, he had to overcome some adversity.

“My year has gone really good, (but) it started with a little disappointment with the end of the high school track and field season,” says Zorzella. “I finished OFSAA in second place. Even though I jumped a personal best at the time, it was disappointing because I felt I was the better jumper that day.”

After OFSAA, Zorzella and his coach examined video footage of his jumps and found one flaw that prevented the Vaughan Road Academy athlete from winning the high school championship.

“The first thing was understanding why it happened,” he says. “My landing was really bad and watching the videos of that day, I just dedicated myself to improving on that.

“I went back to the drawing board and just worked on landing, landing, landing.”

The senior national championship was only a couple of weeks after OFSAA. While the disappointment was still fresh in his mind, he felt confident.

“I went into the prelims and finished in third place, then I went into the finals and said ‘You know what? I am going to win this’,” says Zorzella. “It was raining that day and it just so happened that I was the best jumper.

“When I realized I won the national championship — not the junior national — but the national championship, it was crazy. I still can’t believe it.”

While most competitors heading to the junior Pan Am Games may have butterflies, Zorzella is trying to stay focused on his game.

“This is the first international meet for a lot of people, just like it is for me, so it is going to come down to nerves,” he says. “Nerves will be the X-factor for a lot of people.

“For me nerves aren’t a big thing … so I think I will have an advantage.”

The triple jumper is predicting success in Trinidad and Tobago.

“I feel like I can go there and win a medal,” says Zorzella. “I know in the off-season I worked really hard to get to the point where I am right now.”

While his season has seen its ups and downs, he is feeling really good heading into the competition and thinks he can surpass his 15.19 metres.

“I had a little nagging heel problem that has hampered me from competing at the best of my abilities, but right now it is feeling good and I feel like I can go out there and have a personal best jump by a half a metre or so,” says Zorzella.

After the Pan Am Games, he says the sky is the limit and wants to compete at the collegiate level in the near future.

“I am looking at a couple of scholarship opportunities right now,” he says. “One is with the University of Windsor, which is a great program and they won the Canadian Interuniversity Sport championship this year.”

Zorzella and his Canadian teammates will be competing in Trinidad and Tobago from July 31 to Aug. 2.
Results were not known as of press time.

UPDATE:

Zorzella took seventh place at the Junior Pan Am Games in Trinidad and Tobago with a jump of 14.92 metres. American William Claye took the gold with a jump of 16.57 metres.