Australia’s Murphy wins gold and smashes record in men’s triple jump

Australia’s Connor Murphy wins gold and smashes record in men’s triple jump

Australia’s Connor Murphy won gold in the Sol2023 men’s triple jump at Honiara’s National Stadium on Friday, smashing the 12-year-old Pacific Games record in the process.

Murphy jumped 16.45 metres, comfortably surpassing the record of 16.10m set by New Caledonia’s Frederic Erin at the Noumea 2011 Pacific Games.

Scott Thomas of New Zealand won silver (14.01 metres) while bronze was taken by Fiji’s Penisoni Tirau (13.82 metres).

The 22-year-old gold medallist told the Pacific Games News Service that his family has a long history in triple jump.

“Our family’s passion for this goes back to my father, Andrew Murphy, who made three Olympic appearances in triple jump,” Murphy explained.

“As I continued to grow and improve in track and field, my passion for the sport grew, much to my father’s delight.”

Murphy revealed his family’s motto is ‘dream it, believe it, achieve it’, something he has certainly lived up to at Sol2023

By Delisha Koime and Frank Teho, Pacific Games News Service