DAEGU, South Korea - The Bahamian 'Superman' seems as focused as he has ever been.
'Superman' Leevan Sands will take to the runway tomorrow evening here in Daegu, South Korea, tomorrow morning back in The Bahamas, in another major meet final. He popped an impressive 17.13-meter (m) - 56' 2-1/2" - leap on his first attempt in the qualifying round of the Men's Triple Jump at these 13th International Association of Athletic Federations' (IAAF) World Outdoor Championships, and took the rest of the morning off.

He knows he needs to go even further tomorrow though. As a matter of fact, the 30-year-old Olympic bronze medalist has his sights set on breaking the national record.

"I know that it's going to take a national record to get on the podium," said Sands. "It's something I definitely could do. I feel good and I know how to come up with that big jump when I need to. I just have to trust my mechanics and leave it up to God. He'll do the rest."

Sands set the national record of 17.59m (57' 8-1/2") on his third attempt at the Beijing Olympics three years ago. He very well could have been going after his fourth World Championships medal this year. The 2003 Paris bronze medalist was passed on an opponent's final attempt twice at the World Championships - 2005 and 2009. He had to settle for fourth place each time. He also is a former Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, and last year's Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games champion.

"People call me a championship jumper because I always perform at big meets," said Sands. "As proven yesterday, I'm just ready to jump. I'm excited and just ready to go out there and make the Bahamian people proud."

During the qualifying rounds, the veteran jumper hit the board perfectly to land that automatic qualifying jump on his first attempt. He said that his experience played a key role in him being able to hit the board exactly where he envisioned.

"The key to these types of fast runways is to take a foot and a half back when you get into the competition," said Sands. "Even if you're hitting the board in the warm-ups, when you get to the actual competition you're going to push harder. That's what I did... I took it back so that I could be right on the board. If I hadn't done that, I would have scratched.

"That's one thing that I try to instill in the younger jumpers. That's what I was trying to tell Raymond. The rookie jumpers wouldn't do that. They might feel that they are on the board in the warm-up, but in the competition mode, it's different. It's a learning experience for them," he added.

Bahamian Raymond Higgs scratched on two of his three attempts in the qualifying round of the Men's Long Jump here in Daegu. He had a leap of 7.72m (25' 4") on his only other attempt and failed to make the final, finishing 25th overall.

National record holder in the Women's Long Jump, Bianca Stuart, struggled as well. She only managed to get in one good jump, 6.44m (21' 1-1/2"), to finish ninth in her group and 17th overall.

Both Higgs and Stuart were on their first World Championships squad.

As for Sands, he said he couldn't be more ready at this point. He knows what it's going to take to excel here in Daegu, and he is prepared to do just that.

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