Sophia Hartwell

Happy birthday to the USA’s horizontal jumper Sophia Hartwell, who this February jumped further than she ever has.

Sophia went 12.78m in the triple jump at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic in Albuquerque, a lifetime best in her fourth year at UCLA, and she contests the long jump alongside it. Doing both horizontal jumps seriously is a real technical split: the long jump asks for one enormous commitment, the triple asks for three controlled ones in a row, and the rhythm each demands actively fights the other. A career best in the harder of the two, this deep into a college career, is the mark of an athlete still finding things.

There is a nice symmetry in where she does it. UCLA’s home meet is named for Rafer Johnson and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and Joyner-Kersee was a UCLA horizontal jumper herself. Sophia has competed on that runway with that name over it.

Off the runway she is pre-nursing and has built a real business around fitness, fashion and travel.

Happy birthday, Sophia! A career best in the bank and nursing school ahead of you. Have an outstanding one. 🎂🎁🎉🫶🫶🇺🇸