Stona, Ricketts crowned 2024 Sportsman, Sportswoman of the Year
Published:Saturday | January 18, 2025 | 12:08 AMGregory Bryce/Staff Reporter
Roje Stona and Shanieka Ricketts saw their impressive 2024 calendar year decorated with the prestigious RJRGLEANER Sports Foundation’s Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year Awards last night in a ceremony held at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel.
As many had expected, Stona saw off his competition in the men’s category as he took centre stage, walking home with the main prize of Sportsman of the Year.
On the women’s side, Ricketts was the headliner of a stacked nominee list to etch her name on the Sportswoman of the Year award.
Stona’s achievement came off the back of an impressive season last year where he stood out as Jamaica’s leading man in the men’s discus throw discipline.
His crowning moment came during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games where he won Jamaica’s first-ever gold medal in a throwing event and secured the nation’s only gold medal at the international competition.
His winning effort of 70 metres was not only the best of the event, it also broke the Olympic record of 69.97m, held by silver medallist Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania, which was set earlier in the competition.
Stona also closed out the year as Jamaica’s top ranked athlete in his discipline, edging compatriot Ralford Mullings who had recorded a season’s best of 69.67m.
Stona’s headline-catching feats were not limited to just track and field however, as the 6’7” athlete also caught the eyes of the National Football League (NFL).
Following training with NFL outfits Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints in their rookie mini-camps, Stona was named in the NFL International Player Programme class of 2025.
The programme is an incentive by the NFL to unearth global talent for prospective spots in the league.
Stona was a double winner on the night as he also took home the People’s Choice Performance of the Year Award for his Olympic record-breaking throw.
Jamaica’s new sprint sensation Kishane Thompson was the runner-up for the award after his breakthrough 2024 season.
Thompson shot up the ranks of men’s sprinting when he set a new personal best of 9.77 seconds at the National Stadium to climb into the all-time top 10 list in the 100m event.
He, however, had to settle for silver at the Paris Games as he was edged on the line by reigning Olympic champion, American Noah Lyles, by five-thousandths of a second.
In the women’s category, Ricketts confirmed the main title after her stellar 2024 season in the women’s triple jump.
Ricketts cemented her pedigree as one of Jamaica’s best triple jumpers when she won her sixth national title in a leap of 14.58m.
Her season’s best of 14.87m was enough to see her claim the silver medal at the Paris Games, taking home her first Olympic medal.
The achievement added to her impressive international medal haul which includes two World Athletics Championships silver medals, a gold and a silver medal from the Commonwealth Games as well as a silver medal from the Pan American Games.
Rushell Clayton finished as runner-up for the Sportswoman of the Year award after setting a new personal best in the women’s 400m hurdles in a time of 52.51s to win the national title.
The time also saw her becoming the second-fastest Jamaican in the event, just behind Melaine Walker’s national record of 52.42.
Last year was also special for Clayton as the veteran made her Olympic debut where she finished fifth in the final in a time of 52.68.