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Ashia switched from long jump to triple jump in 1992 and has never looked
back. She has now become one of the world’s greatest Triple Jumpers.
She is without doubt Britain’s greatest ever-female jumper having
already set twenty British records.
Ashia’s first international achievement of note was victory in the
European Cup in Lille in 1995. At the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 she narrowly
missed out on a medal, and was placed fourth. In 1997 Ashia won her first
major medal, silver at the World Indoor Championships in Paris. Ashia’s
progress during 1997 elevated her into the World’s elite and she
was vying with Sarka Kasparkova for the World number 1 spot. She aggravated
a back injury during the 1997 World Championship, which prevented her
from gaining a medal. However, she recovered to win the annual IAAF Grand
Prix final with a jump of 15.15m, the fifth best of all time.
Her 1998 season started with her retaining her British Indoor Title. However,
she saved her best performance to date, by jumping a World Indoor Record
at the European Championships with a jump of 15.16meters. A foot injury
prevented Ashia from competing for most of the Outdoor season, but she
rehabilitated sufficiently to win her second major title of the year at
the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpar in September. Ashia started the
1999 Indoor Season where her 1998 season finished, a fine victory at the
BUPA Indoor Games against her arch rivals gave her the confidence to dominate
the World Indoor Championships in March (Japan) where, with a jump of
15.02m, she claimed her first World Indoor title.
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