Ultimate preview: women's triple jump

World lead: 15.25m Thea LaFond (DMA) Zagreb, 26 June2026 world list | world rankings

World record: 15.74m Yulimar Rojas (VEN) Belgrade, 20 March 2022world all-time list | world record progression

The Olympic champion, world champion and Diamond League champion all clash in the women’s triple jump as Thea LaFond, Leyanis Pérez Hernández and Saly Sarr look to take their 15-metre-plus form with them to the Ultimate Championship in Budapest.

LaFond achieved the best performance in the world for almost four years when she leapt 15.25m in Zagreb in June. The mark moved her to joint ninth on the world all-time list, adding 23 centimetres to the Dominican record LaFond set when winning her Olympic title in 2024.

“It was probably one of the easiest jumps of my life,” she said in Zagreb. “15.25m – just saying it sounds insane.”

Three other athletes – Davisleydi Velazco, Sarr and Pérez Hernández – have also surpassed 15 metres this season. Cuba’s Velazco joined the 15-metre club in Doha, winning a Diamond League clash against her compatriot Pérez Hernández. Velazco’s 15.13m was a world lead at the time and it secured her second consecutive Diamond League victory after her win in Oslo.

That 15-metre club grew again in Silesia as Senegal’s world indoor triple jump bronze medallist Sarr soared a national record of 15.08m and backed it up with a 15.00m leap to claim her first Diamond League win, turning the tables on Pérez Hernández, Cuba’s world champion who won in Monaco with a PB of 15.06m.

Sarr carried her consistency through to the end of the Diamond League season. After finishing in the top three in each of the series meetings in Oslo, Doha, Monaco and Silesia, she became the Diamond League champion at the final in Brussels, threatening 15 metres again with 14.96m to finish ahead of Pérez Hernández and Velazco.

“It’s great to be part of an exceptional generation of triple jumpers,” Sarr said after her win in Brussels. “Now I’m looking forward to Budapest, where I also would like to take the win.”

It was Pérez Hernández who claimed the world indoor title in March and she has also finished in the top three in all her Diamond League contests this year. She will want to challenge again when she returns to Budapest – scene of her first global medal win in 2023 when she got World Championships bronze.

Jess Whittington for World Athletics

Title key: 🏅 Olympic champion, 🌍 world champion, 💎 Diamond League champion