Long jumper Deborah Acquah recorded Ghana’s fifth and final medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham after coming in third with a leap of 6.94m in the final on Sunday.
Acquah, who holds the national record in long jump, came behind Australia’s Brooke Buschkuehl (silver) and Nigeria’s Ese Brume, who recorded a leap of 6.99m to win gold.
Deborah Acquah’s leap of 6.94 metres extended the hitherto national record, also in her name
Her leap of 6.94 metres was a new national record, obliterating her previous mark of 6.89 metres set on April 4 at the Texas Dual Meet, which made her the seventh-best collegian of all time.
A student of Texas A&M University, she had missed out on the final of the women’s long jump event at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon last month, but booked a final spot in Birmingham despite her late arrival.
US-based Aquah received her UK visa only 48 hours before her scheduled event at the games last Friday but she still managed to top her qualifying group with a leap of 6.85m.
The Texas A&M University student becomes the first Ghanaian to win a Commonwealth Games medal in the women’s long jump
The bronze medal-winning feat makes her the first Ghanaian woman in history to win a long jump medal at the Commonwealth games.
She joins other Team Ghana medalists Joseph Commey (boxing, silver), Abraham Mensah (boxing, silver), Abdul Wahid Omar (boxing, bronze) and Joseph Paul Amoah (athletics, bronze) to mount the medal podium for Ghana in Birmingham.
Credit: Graphic Online
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