Chase Jackson, a 2012 Los Alamos graduate, competes in the women’s shot put final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials on Saturday in Eugene, Ore. Her 20.10-meter throw won the event and she will represent the United States in the Paris Olympics which start next month.
Chase Jackson, a 2012 Los Alamos graduate, competes in the women’s shot put final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials on Saturday in Eugene, Ore. Her 20.10-meter throw won the event and she will represent the United States in the Paris Olympics which start next month.
Los Alamos graduate Chase Jackson can now add Olympian to her list of accomplishments.
Jackson, who left Los Alamos in 2012 as one of the best athletes in the school’s history, qualified for the Paris Olympics next month after winning the shot put Saturday night at the U.S. Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore.
Jackson, formerly Ealey, won the event with a distance of 20.10 meters, which was .02 off the trials record, on her fourth throw of the event and was the two-time reigning world outdoor champion’s best effort of the season.
It continues a whirlwind career for Jackson. She exploded onto the world stage in 2022 when she became the first American to become world shot put champion at the World Track and Field Championships — which ironically came at the same venue. She repeated as champion in 2023 and will get a chance to compete for a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, which begin on July 24. The track and field portion of the Olympics start Aug. 1, with the shot put scheduled for Aug. 8-9.
Jackson missed out on the delayed 2020 Games in Tokyo when she finished fifth at the trials in which the top-three finishers make the U.S. team. Jackson told dyestat.com her performance from that event was weighed on her mind before producing her winning toss.
“I’ve had that black medal from [the] Tokyo trials for years now, just haunting me, hanging up, making sure I remember I’m not going to do that again,” Jackson said. “And I made sure not to do it again.”
Jackson was a three-time winner of the Class 4A 100 meters, a two-time shot put champion, won the javelin as a junior and was a part of two state champion 400-relay teams.
In 2012, she had the fastest time of all female runners in the 100, clocking in at 12.35 seconds, and helped the Lady Hilltoppers to the 4A state record in the 400 relay. She was also an All-State selection in volleyball and was The New Mexican’s Female Athlete of the Year her senior season.
Jackson competed at Oklahoma State from 2012-16, where she was a three-time All-American and finished second at the NCAA Track and Field Championships as a senior.
