Ruth Usoro recognised in 'Women of Tech Athletics' as a Texas Tech legend

Texas Tech University standout athlete and alumnus, Ruth Usoro has been recognised by the university as a legend in Women of Texas Tech Athletics.

The Nigerian long and triple jumper arrived at Texas Tech as a junior from South Plains College and immediately stamped her name in the history books.

Usoro won the BIG 12 indoor conference titles in the long and triple jump from 2020-2022 and was the 2021 NCAA indoor and outdoor triple jump champion.

Her triple jump indoor Personal Best (PB) of 14.36m and outdoor PB of 14.50m aren't just School Record's (SR) but Nigerian Records (NR), and she has an indoor long jump PB of 6.87m and an outdoor PB of 6.78m.

Usoro won the 2021 NCAA triple jump titles in the indoor and outdoor championships and went undefeated that year with twelve total wins.

She qualified for the delayed 2021 Tokyo Olympics, becoming the first Nigerian athlete (male or female) to qualify for both the long and triple jump in the history of the games.

"Ruth's got to be right up there in terms of the best we've ever had, especially in her event," said Texas Tech Director of Track and Field, Wes Kittley.

In 2021, despite arriving in Tokyo, sadly, she wasn't allowed to compete as her name was among the ten Nigerian athletes ineligible to participate due to non-compliance with out-of-competition drug testing requirements in the run-up to the Games, a fault the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) took the blame and responsibilities.

The 25-year-old overcame the setback and accomplished the same milestone for the 2022 World Championships in Oregon.

First, she competed at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, finishing eighth in the triple jump, and went to Oregon to compete in both events - also a first in Nigeria's athletics history.

In Oregon, she couldn't qualify for the triple jump final but did in the long jump by placing fifth in the final. So she ended the 2022 season as the eighth-best triple jumper and fifth-best long jumper in the world on her first senior global outing - a worthy achievement.

The long and triple jumper made waves around the world in January (28) when she leaped a PB and world-leading mark of 6.87m to win the long jump final at the Texas Tech Open and Multis on her season's debut.

Her mark automatically surpassed the World Championships qualifying mark of 6.85m, which also propelled her to No. 2 on the all-time African indoor list behind Ajunwa (6.97m) and ahead of multiple World Championships medallist Brume (6.85m).

Consequently, she became the second Nigerian jumper to hit the automatic qualifying standard behind Brume, who jumped 7m to win the Commonwealth title last year.

Then on Ferbruary (11) at the Don Kirby Invitational, Usoro leaped a Season's Best (SB) of 14.09m to win the triple jump final at the meet. She's yet to compete outdoors this year.