Keturah Orji left it all out there on Sunday during the women's Olympic triple jump finals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. On her first jump of the night she broke her own American record, which she previously set this past spring at the NCAA Championships, leaping to a mark of 48-03.25. Her previous record was 47-07.75 for perspective on just how big that PR leap was.
The impressive air time put her into an early lead however it wouldn't last as she eventually fell to fourth place just edged by Olga Rypakova's jump of 48-04.25 to earn Kazakhstan the bronze.
Despite the heartbreaking close medal finish this was still a very impressive outing for the 20 year old American. No United States woman has ever won a medal in this event and this is the highest finish ever for the U.S. since the start of the women's triple jump competition in 1996.
Orji had this to say, "Yesterday, when I was going through prelims, my jumps weren't really good. Two of my jumps yesterday were fouls, so I was looking forward to today but I was also nervous about fouling those big jumps again. Once I got it out there, I was really happy. My coach said if I put it on the board, I'll put it out there. So I'm really excited. It's another fourth-place finish, but I can't complain."
Keturah was a star athlete at Mount Olive High School before graduating in 2014, she then brought her talents to the University of Georgia where she is now a junior and has already won the outdoor NCAA triple jump title twice.
Top Four Finishers
| Rank | athlete | Country | Mark | Record | Wind (m/s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caterine IBARGUEN | 15.17m | SB | +0.4 | |
| 2 | Yulimar ROJAS | 14.98m | +0.8 | ||
| 3 | Olga RYPAKOVA | 14.74m | SB | +0.3 | |
| 4 | Keturah ORJI | 14.71m | NR | 0.0 |
Check Out Keturah Orji's Career Stats Here
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