Florence’s Curtis Thompson finished his remarkable 2022 season with a meet record and the 2nd-best throw of his life Saturday at the NACAC Championships in the Bahamas.
Thompson threw 276-4 on his 3rd attempt to win the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association Championships at Freeport Stadium in Grand Bahamas.
His only better throw was his 287-9 at the American JavFest in East Stroudsburg, Pa., last month. That’s No. 3 in U.S. history.
Thompson, a two-time U.S. champion and 2021 Olympian, has now thrown 270 or better six times, and four of those six throws have come in the last six weeks.
Thompson’s next-best throw was a 260-1 on his first attempt, but the 276-4 was good enough to edge 2012 Olympic gold medalist Keshorn Walcott from Trinidad and Tobago, who threw 275-4 on his first attempt.
The previous NACAC meet record was 261-3 set in Toronto in 2018 by Thompson’s former Mississippi State teammate, Anderson Peters of Grenada, the two-time world champion and all-time world No. 5.
CURTIS THOMPSON ALL-TIME 260-FOOT THROWS
287- 9 … American JavFest, East Stroudsburg [Pa.] South High School, July 9, 2022
276-4 … NACAC, Freeport Stadium, Grand Bahamas, Bahamas, Aug. 20, 2022
273- 4 … American JavFest, East Stroudsburg [Pa.] South High School, July 9, 2022
271-11… Olympic Trials, Hayward Field, Eugene, July 4, 2016
271- 7 … Olympic Trials, Hayward Field, Eugene, June 21, 2021
270- 3 … Kamila Skolimowska Memorial Invitational, Silesian Stadium, Chorzów, Poland, Aug. 6, 2022
269- 7 …American JavFest, East Stroudsburg [Pa.] South High School, July 9, 2022
268- 1 … Oregon Relays, Hayward Field, Eugene, April 23, 2022
268- 1 … World Athletics Championships, Hayward Field, Eugene, July 21, 2022
267- 4 … World Athletics Championships, Hayward Field, Eugene, July 21, 2022
267- 2 … USATF Throws Festival, Roy P. Drachman Stadium, Tucson, Ariz., May 22, 2021
266- 5 … USATF Throws Festival, Roy P. Drachman Stadium, Tucson, Ariz., May 21, 2022
265-10 … American JavFest, East Stroudsburg [Pa.] South High School, July 17, 2021
265-10 … Florida State Relays, Mike Long Track, Tallahassee, Fla., March 25, 2016
265- 7 … Victoria Track Classic, Centennial Stadium, Victoria, British Columbia, June 15, 2022
264- 8 … USATF Throws Festival, Roy P. Drachman Stadium, Tucson, Ariz., May 21, 2022
264- 1 … USATF Championships, Hayward Field, Eugene, Ore., June 26, 2022
263-10 … 94th annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, Mike A. Myers Stadium, Austin, Texas, March 25, 2022
261- 6 … Kamila Skolimowska Memorial Invitational, Silesian Stadium, Chorzów, Poland, Aug. 6, 2022
260-11 … American JavFest, East Stroudsburg [Pa.] South High School, July 30, 2016
260- 1 … NACAC Under-23, San Salvador, Estadio Jorge “Mágico” González, June 17, 2016
260-1 … NACAC, Freeport Stadium, Grand Bahamas, Bahamas, Aug. 20, 2022
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 