Lerato Sechele aiming for 2019 African Games and World Championships

2018 has been a good year for Lerato Sechele...

The next major target for Lesotho’s triple jump record holder Lerato Sechele is next year’s All Africa Games and IAAF World Championships.

The 12th African Games will take place in October 2019 in Casablanca, Morocco while the 2019 World Championships will be held next September in Doha, Qatar.

2018 has been a good year for Sechele.

In July she won bronze at the African Senior Championships in Nigeria.

In April, Sechele finished fourth at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia and set a new Lesotho triple jump record of 13.57 metres in the process.

Next on her to-do list is to win gold at the African Games and to qualify for the World Championships for the first time.

“I have started preparing for the World Championships and All Africa Games,” Sechele said.

“I am aiming for a gold medal at the All Africa Games and to qualify for World Champs. This year’s African Senior Championships were my first one and I am happy and motivated to get more medals.”

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