Ayanna Alexander, one of T&T's most consistent and decorated track athletes, produced the best triple-jump performance of her career, on Sunday, when she rewrote her own national record at the 39th annual Potomac Valley Games in Alexandria, Virginia, with a 14.40-metre (wind +0.0) effort.
The feat was a considerable 0.49m further than what it took for her to claim bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Scotland, in August. Alexander's previous personal best was 14.15m which she achieved in May 2012, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of-Spain.
Alexander, 32, who represented Ashburn, VA (her current residence), is the first and only woman to fly the T&T flag at the Olympic Games in the triple-jump event and is the record holder of national championship titles–eight–which she secured on a run from 2006-2013.
She joined in Independence Day celebrations with two other T&T athletes, George Bovell III and Richard Thompson, who performed considerably on Sunday. Bovell claimed gold at the Fina/Mastbank Swimming World Cup in Dubai, in the men's 100m individual medley. He clocked 51.79 seconds.
Thompson, meanwhile, clocked 10.15 seconds to win the men's 100m at the IAAF World Challenge Meet in Berlin, Germany. Keston Bledman finished third in that race in 10.23 seconds.
In a release, the National Association of Athletics Administration congratulated Alexander for adding to the country's Independence celebrations. "She hopped, stepped and jumped into the record books with a lifetime best of 14.40m wind (+0.0) and a new national record in the triple jump. Ayanna smashed her own record of 14.15 which she set on May 9, 2012, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium."