In action at the South Eastern Conference SEC Championships on Saturday in College Station, Texas, Guyana’s Natricia Hooper hopped, skipped, and jumped her way to a new national record in the triple jump.
Hooper, a junior at the University of Florida, placed third among all competitors at the prestigious meet which was held at the E.B Cushing Stadium.
After breaking the record in her first attempt with a leap of 13.92m, she returned in her fifth attempt and recorded a jump of 13.93m.
Most notably, Hooper’s result, eclipsed the previous record of 13.74m set 26 years ago (June 3, 1995) by Nicola Martial who represented Guyana at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.
Hooper will be looking to emulate Martial and become an Olympian also. She has to achieve the qualifying standard of 14.32m to clinch an Olympic berth for this year’s Games which will be staged in Tokyo, Japan this summer.
