Lerato Sechele sets new Lesotho triple jump record at Commonwealth Games

Lesotho record breaker Lerato Sechele

Lesotho triple jump specialist Lerato Sechele set a new national record of 13.57 metres in the final of the women’s triple jump at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia on Tuesday.

Sechele’s brilliant performance wasn’t enough however to end Lesotho’s international medal drought as she finished fourth.

The event was won by Jamaica’s Kimberly Williams with a jump of 14.64 metres. She was followed by countrywoman Shanieka Ricketts with the Dominican Republic’s Thea Lafond claiming bronze.

Sechele, who won silver at the 2011 African Junior Athletics Championships in Botswana, has been camped in Senegal for the past three years.

She is a beneficiary of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Olympic Solidarity training programme with hopes of qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

Lesotho hasn’t won a medal at a global championship since Moses Kopo’s boxing silver at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia.

Women’s triple jump results:

1. Kimberly Williams (Jamaica) 14.64 metres

2. Shanieka Ricketts (Jamaica) 14.52

3. Thea Lafond (Dominica) 13.92

4. Lerato Sechele (Lesotho) 13.57

5. Blessing Ibrahim (Nigeria) 13.48