Athletics – THEA LaFond needed just two attempts to win triple jump gold at the world indoor championships on Sunday and become Dominica’s first global champion in athletics.
The 29-year-old soared 15.01 metres on her second attempt, the best jump in the world this year, and with victory all but locked up was able to pass on her remaining four jumps at the championships being held in Glasgow, Scotland.
“This feels absolutely surreal,” LaFond said. “I’m the only athlete here from my country and I have the gold medal. We’re just a little island with a population of 70,000 people, so this one is for my people, all of my people.”
Cuba’s Leyanis Perez Hernandez leapt 14.90 for silver, while Ana Peleteiro-Compaore of Spain won bronze with a mark of 14.75.
Hamish Kerr of New Zealand cleared a world leading 2.36 metres to win the men’s high jump gold, improving on his bronze from the 2022 world indoor event.
American Shelby McEwan won the silver with a jump of 2.28, and reigning indoor champion Woo Sang-hyeok of South Korea was third, also clearing 2.28 but with more foul jumps.
LaFond’s previous best results were a Diamond League win in 2022 in Paris and Commonwealth Games silver and bronze medals.
“My country is small but mighty. I came here with the expectation and the goal of jumping 15 metres,” she said.
“I am hoping that this inspires the next generation of young Dominica athletes to just go for it.”
Meanwhile, Noah Lyles helped the US team to a silver medal in the 4x400m relay – a distance he rarely runs – in Glasgow, a preview perhaps of his Paris Olympic intentions.
Running the third leg, the 100m and 200m specialist received the baton in first place and handed off without giving up any ground in a 45.68-second split, the third fastest of his team.
Alexander Doom, the gold medallist in the 400m a night earlier, pipped American anchor Christopher Bailey at the finish line to give Belgium gold in three minutes 2.54 seconds. The US crossed in 3:02.60.
Lyles, who led the US team out during introductions with a loud “Woo!”, raced to silver in the 60m on Friday in his world indoor debut.
Lyles won the 100m, 200m and 4x100m at last year’s world championships in Budapest, becoming the first man since Usain Bolt in 2015 to complete the sprint treble.
He hinted recently he is considering going for four golds at this year’s Paris Olympics, adding the 4x400m to his schedule.
“I’ve never had somebody tell me something that has thrown my out-of-the-box thinking to inside-the-box, but that was like: okay, I’m not going to say no to that,” Lyles told L’Equipe recently.
“After what I did at Budapest and seeing what my body can handle, if I train for it, okay, let’s take a shot. It’s the last race, there’s nothing to lose.”
Lyles is no stranger to the one-lap race. He famously ran a 45-second split as a high schooler at the Penn Relays, making up huge ground to take his team from second last to second.
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