Information regarding wind-aided jumps updated on Saturday.
After a disappointing couple of jumps to begin the women’s long jump at the 2015 Prefontaine Classic, Tianna Bartoletta adjusted her approach and hit a personal best of 23 feet, 4 inches (7.11 meters) (+2.5) to win the event.
After her second attempt, Bartoletta was tied for third place and was not performing up to the level she should be as the All-Athletics No. 1 ranked long jumper.
“Honestly, I felt [the jumps] were very inconsistent,” Bartoletta said. “I was having a lot of trouble jumping off the board. I didn’t do myself any favors jumping big jumps from behind the board. That’s something we will adjust for going into nationals.”
Bartoletta blamed the rocky start to the night on the shifting winds in Hayward Field. “When the wind changes, the approach changes,” she said.
Canada’s Christabel Nettey, with a jump of 22-11 1/4 (6.99) (+0.8), and Great Britain’s Lorraine Ugen, with a jump of 22-07 1/4 (6.89) (+2.8), rounded out the top three.
Nettey’s final attempt tied a personal best. She was a mere .01 meter away from the 7-meter mark.
“Right now I’m just going for 7s,” said Nettey. “That last centimeter was so far. To come back and do it in final round has kind of been the goal for this year, to be able to fight back through the rounds.”
Coming so close to 7 meters and not making it can be frustrating. However, Nettey has stayed motivated and is optimistic about reaching her goal.
“I executed things in my run and in the jump, so I know eventually it’s going to come together,” she said. “I’m just waiting on it to come.”
Nettey, the former Arizona State Sun Devil, has jumped at Hayward before. She fouled out at the Pac-12 championships her sophomore year, and failed to qualify for the finals at NCAAs as a senior.
Nettey will now head home to her hometown of Vancouver, Canada, for a National Track League meet. Then she’ll make a trip to New York before gearing up for the Canadian Trials in late June and the 2015 Pan Am Games in July in Toronto.
Bartoletta is planning on making the U.S. team for the world championships in Beijing in both the 100 and the long jump events.
In the off-season Bartoletta trains with Darya Klishina in Florida. Klishina did not make it to the second round of the long jump with a best jump of 21-4 (6.5 meters) in the second round. Bartoletta said that training with a member of the competition is a real boost in practice.
“You can’t expect to do in a meet what you can’t do in practice,” Bartoletta said. “I’m very competitive, and even in practice every approach and every short jump I try to make perfect. She just helps set the bar for me at practice.”
Klishina acknowledged that both athletes are able to benefit from practicing together.
“We train together, and I can see her run her jump and she can see mine,” Klishina said. “She can learn from me, and I can learn from her.”
By Bryan Holt and Nik Streng
