Dominica’s LaFond Makes History as First OECS Woman To Hit Tokyo 2020 Mark

(Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Press Room) The Commonwealth of Dominica has hopped, stepped, and jumped out to the forefront of the push for participation in the 2020 edition of the Olympic Games, with the republic’s top female triple jumper making the minimum standards for this year’s showcase.

Turning 26 in April, Thea LaFond reset her Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) women’s record in February, clearing 14.33 metres at the 2020 University of Albany Winter Classic Competition in New York. That mark puts the 1.73m-tall University of Maryland graduate in pole position to return to the Olympics, having previously competed at Rio 2016.

For this iteration of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo (24 July to 9 August) the qualification system for athletics has been tweaked by global governing body, World Athletics. Qualification standards have been set, but there will also be a maximum field. In other words, no more than a certain number of athletes will be entered in each event, based on the world rankings at a particular cutoff date.

In any case, LaFond should be safe. Dominica’s first and only Commonwealth Games medallist, with a 13.92m bronze in triple jump at Gold Coast 2018, LaFond is ranked 21st in the world at the time of writing. A total of 32 athletes will be entered for women’s triple jump.

Read more at: Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Press Room