In this week's edition or our weekly recap, the Week That Was, there was one topic I didn't get to that I wanted to talk about - Tori Franklin's American record in the triple jump and her massive improvement. So let's talk about it now.
Last Saturday, Franklin had a massive series in Guadeloupe during which she destroyed Keturah Orji's American record of 48' 3¼" (14.71m) American record in the process.
Coming into the weekend, Franklin, 25, had a pb of 47' 6¼" (14.48 m). In Guadeloupe, she beat that mark in all five of her recorded jumps and twice beat the American record, with her new American record now being a world leading 48' 8¼" (14.84 m).
So Franklin PRd by 14 inches (.36 m) over the weekend. But that's only part of the story. Coming into the year, her pb was just 46' 0½ (14.03m). So this year, she's improved her PB by 2' 8" (0.81m)
And going father back, her improvement is even bigger. Yes she was a good collegian but hardly a superstar. She made it to NCAA finals in 7 of her 8 seasons but she only scored in the triple jump 4 times, and her career best finish of third at NCAAs came indoors of her freshman year. Her pb at Michigan State where she competed from 2012-2015 was just 44' 6" (13.56 m). So since college she has improved by more than 4 feet - 4' 2½" (1.28 m).
I'm fascinated as to how someone could improve so much.
In college, was she perhaps injury prone (but she made it to NCAAs nearly every season), not serious about raining, have terrible form, not lifting weights, etc?
Give us the insight if you have it.