Months After Having the Worst Season, American Athlete Grabs National Title at USATF Indoor Championship

Published 02/18/2024, 6:41 AM HKT

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The 2024 USATF Indoor Championship saw the women’s triple jump being triumphed with a new national record. Interestingly, this is the second time the victor of the event managed to surpass all her national competitors.

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Women’s triple jumping ace Keturah Orji clinched the gold medal at the 2024 USATF Indoor Championship. The athlete recorded a jump of 14.50 meters to win the top position. Notably, the gold medal comes right after the 27-year-old suffered a lot of adversity in the previous season. 

Keturah Orji struggled to strike a balance between her athletic career and her personal life, which led to a decline in her performance. The USATF Indoor Championship victor’s record mostly consists of silver and bronze medals. However, the 2023 season really got under her skin because of several real-life challenges it brought.

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Orji even added an Instagram post about it which said, “💭In my opinion, this has been the worst season of my professional career. 😔 I moved back to Atlanta this year to be with my husband and closer to friends in hopes that I could still maintain form. Unfortunately, this season turned out to be the opposite of those plans.” 

The USATF Indoor Championship winner further said, “Within sports, we talk a lot about everything athletes sacrifice for great results, but no one talks about potentially sacrificing results for life and happiness. I’m still trying to figure out that balance & although life outside of track has been great, my results on the track have dampened those other parts of my life.”

While Orji didn’t have much going for her in 2023, she did have one positive outcome last year. In fact, the same and even better outcome has lifted her up once again.

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The USATF Indoor Championship gold medal returns home to its rightful winner

Despite fighting several odds at once, Keturah Orji did achieve a breakthrough last year. Actually, Orji was the defending champion in the women’s triple jump at today’s event. Thus, the US track and field fighter was also the champ at the 2023 USATF Indoor Championship. 

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While Orji had bagged the indoor event, she couldn’t overcome the competition in USATF’s outdoor run and bagged a silver medal. This time, however, she will approach things more confidently and land outdoor national success as well. Will 2024’s USATF Indoor Championship triumph be able to propel her for the rest of the season?

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Written by:

Ankit Singh

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Ankit Singh is a senior Olympic Sports correspondent at EssentiallySports who covers gymnastics, track and field, and the NCAA Women's Division 1 Volleyball. In his early days at ES, Ankit covered two prime track and field events - the 2023 World Athletics Championships and the 2023 Prefontaine Classic. During the 2023 NCAA Division 1 women’s Volleyball championships, Ankit covered the Nebraska Huskers and the Wisconsin Badgers rivalry, and later covered the transfer portals after the Texas Longhorns lifted the victory.
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Edited by:

Arnima Shukla

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