Former Sprinter Blocker Earns Gold Medal in IAAF World Championship
Oct 2, 2019 | Track & Field
2019 has turned out to be a big year for former Tulane track and field star Jasmine Blocker.
The 2016 Green Wave graduate earned her second gold medal this year – and fourth in her career – this past weekend at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championship in Doha, Qatar.
Running the third leg of the 4x400 meter mixed relay, Blocker, alongside Tyrell Richard, Jessica Beard and Obi Igbokwe, finished with a world-record breaking time of 3:12.42 to earn Team USA a spot in the finals.
This 4x400 meter race was the first ever mixed relay run at a world championship event, and it set to make its Olympic debut in Tokyo 2020.
Blocker recorded a split of 51.27 seconds in her portion of the race, a faster time than her current personal record of 51.46 in the open 400-meter, which she set in June 2018 in the USATF Outdoor Championships.
The IAAF World Championship marks the fourth time in Blocker's career that she has represented Team USA, doing so for the first time last summer in the London Athletics World Cup and winning her first-ever gold medal in the women's 4x400 meter relay.
Following that performance, Blocker has since won gold medals in the 4x400 mixed relay at the World Relay's in Yokohama, Japan and at the NACAC Championships in the women's 4x400 meter relay.
Blocker has only continued to improve as an athlete since graduating from Tulane three years ago with a Masters in Business Administration. While in Uptown, Blocker came in seventh in the country in the 400-meter at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, earning First Team All-America honors in her final season.
With a personal best time of 51.66 in the 400 – nearly two full seconds better than she had run during her undergraduate career at Princeton – Blocker earned a spot in the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials.
Though Blocker may have moved from New Orleans to Los Angeles last year to prioritize her training, her loyalty remains with the Green Wave and all those who have helped her in getting to where she is today.
Especially her former coach – who Blocker texted prior to her big win on Saturday to say, "This one is for both of us!!"
"It makes me happy to know that I have played a small part in her reaching her dreams," Tulane track and field assistant coach Sani Roseby said. "I am so very proud of her and all that she has accomplished in this sport. She is a great athlete and an even better person. I look forward to following her on her journey to Tokyo 2020. I am, and will continue to be, one of her biggest fans."
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