Thea LaFond celebrates her world indoor triple jump title win in Glasgow (© AFP / Getty Images)
With the leap of her life, Thea LaFond soared to her first global medal. And it was a golden moment for the triple jumper from the tiny Caribbean island of Dominica during the penultimate session of the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24 on Sunday (3).
After LaFond surpassed 15 metres for the first time, recording 15.01m in the second round of the women’s triple jump final in the Glasgow Arena, the emotion was clear.
Leaving the sand pit, she put her hands on her knees, then on her hips, waiting for the distance to be confirmed. As her national record figures flashed up on the board, she went over to the stands and crouched down, letting the moment sink in.
Deciding to pass the next three rounds, the 29-year-old patiently waited to see if any of her rivals could challenge the mark. While Cuba’s Leyanis Perez Hernandez improved to 14.90m in round four and Spain’s Ana Peleteiro-Compaore to 14.75m in round five, LaFond’s 15 metres stood safe at the top.
Just after Peleteiro-Compaore took that fifth jump, LaFond started to prepare for a final attempt. She didn’t need to take it. As the competition came to a close, and with only the medallists left to take their last attempts, the order of the podium was confirmed when Peleteiro-Compaore managed 14.41m and Perez Hernandez recorded a foul.
As the red flag appeared next to that attempt, LaFond jumped up and ran to the stands to grab her national flag. Draping it over her head, she passed her final jump and celebrated becoming a global champion.
“This feels absolutely surreal,” she said in her trackside interview in front of a supportive Glasgow crowd. “I am the only athlete here from my country, so to be able to come out and get the best possible outcome and put this little island on the map is a privilege. This one is for my people. I don’t even know what to say any more!”
It was a historic occasion for Dominica, as LaFond became her nation’s first female global medallist and first global champion in athletics. A two-time world fifth-place finisher, in Oregon in 2022 and Budapest in 2023 when she set her previous national record of 14.90m, LaFond finished fourth at the last edition of the World Indoor Championships, jumping 14.53m in Belgrade in 2022.
In her trackside interview after her win, LaFond highlighted Dominica’s population of 70,000 people – around a tenth of the population of Glasgow.
LaFond was born in Roseau, the capital of Dominica, and competed in a range of athletics events growing up in the US, contesting both the high jump and the triple jump at the 2011 World U18 Championships in Lille.
She finished 11th in the triple jump at the following year’s World U20 Championships in Barcelona and went on to contest the triple jump, long jump, high jump, hurdles and multi events during a varied NCAA career.
After a conversation with 1992 Olympic 110m hurdles bronze medallist Jack Pierce, LaFond decided to focus on the triple jump. The rest, as they say, is history.
Last year Perez Hernandez claimed world bronze in Budapest – in a competition won by world record-holder Yulimar Rojas who decided not to compete in Glasgow – and she doubled that global medal haul on Sunday, backing up her best of 14.90m with three other jumps of 14.58m or farther.
It was a third global bronze medal-winning performance for Peleteiro-Compaore, who finished third at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham six years ago and matched that place at the Olympics in Tokyo.
USA’s Keturah Orji and Jasmine Moore finished behind them in fourth and fifth, Orji with a best of 14.36m and Moore leaping 14.15m.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics
| WOMEN'S TRIPLE JUMP MEDALLISTS | ||
| 🥇 | Thea LaFond 🇩🇲 DMA | 15.01m WL NR |
| 🥈 | Leyanis Perez Hernandez 🇨🇺 CUB | 14.90m |
| 🥉 | Ana Peleteiro-Compaore 🇪🇸 ESP | 14.75m |
| Full results | ||
