Barbadian athlete Akela Jones set a new national record in the women’s long jump on Saturday, and was agonisingly close to qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Competing at the Chula Vista Field Festival in Chula Vista, California, Jones was sixth overall with a leap of 6.80 metres. She hit the new national mark on the fourth attempt, backed by a wind of 0.2 metres per second.
This replaced Jones’ own mark of 6.75 metres set in 2016.
However, she was just 2cm shy of the 6.82 metres required for Tokyo.
Ese Brume of Nigeria won the event with a leap of 7.17 metres. Former Olympic champion and multiple world champion Brittney Reese of the United States was second with 7.10m and Chantal Malone of the British Virgin Islands third with 7.07m. (SAT)
