Simply as Julien Alfred was celebrating having change into Saint Lucia’s first ever Olympic champion in Paris on Saturday night time (August 3), so Thea LaFond was capable of do likewise for Dominica after successful the ladies’s triple soar.
A nationwide document of 15.02m (-0.4) allowed her to succeed world record-holder Yulimar Rojas – absent by an Achilles harm – on the highest step of the rostrum. There was a distinctly Caribbean flavour to proceedings as Jamaica’s Shanieka Ricketts took silver with a season’s better of 14.87m (-0.7) and USA’s Jasmine Moore received bronze with 14.67 (0.7).
Cuban Leyanis Perez Hernandez had moved into an early lead with 14.62m, one centimetre away from Ricketts’ opener nevertheless it was within the second spherical the place the prizes had been successfully settled – the entire eventual medallists producing their greatest leaps of the night time at that stage.
LaFond was the one athlete to breach the 15-metre barrier and managed to go one centimetre additional than the 15.01m which introduced her the world indoor title in Glasgow again in March.
For Ricketts, hers is an Olympic medal which was partly made in Britain. Coached by her husband Kerrylee, the couple have robust hyperlinks with the Hercules Wimbledon membership.
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