In what was likely his final tuneup before the World Championships, five-time U.S. javelin champion Curtis Thompson popped the 3rd– and 4th-best throws of his life Sunday evening at the NACAC Championships in the Bahamas.
Thompson, a 2014 Florence High School graduate, won the NACAC Championships with a 286-2 on his 2nd throw at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex in Freeport. The NACAC is the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association.
His winning throw was just 21 inches shy of his lifetime-best 287-11, which he threw at the Texas Relays in March in Austin. Thompson goes into the World Championships ranked 4th in the world this year and 3rd in U.S. history.
Thompson also had a 282-8 on his 3rd throw and averaged 269-6 on his five legal throws, which would have been good enough to win the meet. This is the first time he’s ever hit 280 feet twice in the same meet.
Delsea’s Josh Awotunde won the shot put at NACACs on Friday, so South Jersey not only won two throws at the U.S. Championships but two more at the NACAC Championships. Both Awotunde and Thompson will compete at Worlds next month in Tokyo.
Thompson now has the four-longest throws by an American this year and 10 of the top 14. Five of the seven-best throws of his life have come since March.
Curtis Thompson All-Time 270-Foot Throws
287-11 … Texas Relays, Austin, Texas, March 28, 2025 [2nd throw]
287-9 … American JavFest, East Stroudsburg [Pa.] South High School, July 9, 2022 [2nd throw]
286-2 … NACAC, Freeport Stadium, Grand Bahamas, Bahamas, Aug. 20, 2025 [2nd throw]
282-8 … NACAC, Freeport Stadium, Grand Bahamas, Bahamas, Aug. 20, 2025 [3rd throw]
276-11 … Texas Relays, Austin, Texas, March 28, 2025 [3rd throw]
276-4 … NACAC, Freeport Stadium, Grand Bahamas, Bahamas, Aug. 20, 2022 [3rd throw]
275-2 … USATC Championships, Eugene, Ore., July 31, 2025 [4th throw]
274-11 … Athletissima, La Pontaise, Lausanne, Switzerland, Aug. 26, 2022 [1st throw]
273-4 … American JavFest, East Stroudsburg [Pa.] South High School, July 9, 2022 [1st throw]
272-5 … Olympic Trials, Hayward Field, Eugene, June 23, 2024 [1st throw]
271-11… Olympic Trials, Hayward Field, Eugene, July 4, 2016 [1st throw]
271-10 … Spitzen Leichtathletik, Luzern, Switzerland, Aug. 30, 2022 [3rd throw]
271-9 … Texas Relays, Austin, Texas, March 28, 2025 [4th throw]
271-7 … Olympic Trials, Hayward Field, Eugene, June 21, 2021 [6th throw]
271-0 … American JavFest, East Stroudsburg [Pa.] South High School, July 13, 2024 [1st throw]
270-6 … USATF Championships, Eugene, Ore., July 31, 2025 [6th throw]
270-3 … Kamila Skolimowska Memorial Invitational, Silesian Stadium, Chorzów, Poland, Aug. 6, 2022 [2nd throw]
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 