WITH A TREMENDOUS field assembled, Brittney Reese responded as she has most of her long jump career—she won convincingly. Only needing to “just compete” to confirm her Wild Card pass to Doha as defending world champion, the 32-year-old Mississippi native had greater intentions, starting off at a windy 22-5¼ (6.84). In round 2 she left no doubt, spanning an even 7 meters—22-11¾—to seal a victory for the eighth time outdoors. The last woman to match that total was Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Said Reese, “I’m just trying to get myself into shape.”
While Reese—also the reigning Olympic gold medalist—is looking for an incredible fifth WC gold in Doha, the rest of the field was hoping to make the cut in a heated competition that had the benefit of putting 3 other jumpers on the team.
A dozen 22-footers—likely the greatest collection of American jumpers ever—began, but when the competition whittled down to 8 finalists among the eliminated was Tianna Bartoletta, the ’12 Olympic and 2-time World Championships gold medalist. The second flight had loads of excitement behind Reese, as Sha’Keela Saunders—last year’s No. 1 U.S. ranker—jumped 22-1 (6.73) to claim an early 2nd place. Jasmine Todd jumped 22-3½ (6.79) in round 3 to put her in 2nd. In round 4, Quanesha Burks lept a seasonal best 21-11¾ (6.70), taking 4th away from triple jump champ Keturah Orji—who was aiming to become the first women’s horizontal doubler.
Round 6 provided the most fireworks. Tori Bowie—who before this year hadn’t jumped since ’14—went into 3rd at 22-3 (6.78). Burks and Orji did not improve, but Saunders did, also to 22-3 (6.78). The tiebreaker gave her 3rd ahead of Bowie, as those two and Todd were separated by just a single centimeter.
USATF WOMEN’S LONG JUMP RESULTS
(July 27; winds ranged from +4.1 to –0.2)
1. Brittney Reese (Nik) 22-11¾ (7.00) (AL)
(22-5¼w, 22-11¾, f, f, 21-8¾, f) (6.84w, 7.00, f, f, 6.62, f);
2. Jasmine Todd (CVE) 22-3½ (6.79)
(21-10¼, 20-3¾, 22-3½, 21-¾, 18-3, 20-3¾) (6.66, 6.19, 6.79, 6.42, 5.56, 6.19);
3. Sha’Keela Saunders (adi) 22-3 (6.78)
(22-1, 20-8, 21-8¼, 21-6, 21-6, 22-3) (6.73, 6.30, 6.61, 6.55, 6.55, 6.78);
4. Tori Bowie (adi) 22-3 (6.78)
(21-9½w, 20-5, f, f, 21-4¼w, 22-3) (6.64w, 6.22, f, f, 6.51w, 6.78);
5. Quanesha Burks (adi) 21-11¾ (6.70);
6. Keturah Orji (AtlTC) 21-11 (6.68);
7. Malaina Payton (Ois) 21-7½w (6.59);
8. Alexis Faulknor (unat) 21-7¼w (6.58);
9. Alliyah Whisby (Ga) 21-6¼ (6.56);
10. Kate Hall (unat) 21-6 (6.55);
11. Tara Davis (unat) 21-4 (6.50);
12. Sydney Conley (unat) 21-3¼w (6.48);
13. Sarea Alexander (IncW) 20-5¾w (6.24);
14. Darrielle McQueen (unat) 20-5¾;
15. Destiny Longmire (TCU) 20-2½ (6.16);
16. Kylie Price (CVE) 19-11 (6.07);
17. Tianna Bartoletta (Nik) 18-7 (5.66). ◻︎
