USTFCCCA News & Notes
By Tom Lewis, USTFCCCA June 12, 2021   

MEET RECORD: van Klinken Sets All-Time Discus Best

Last one, best one.

It is a cliché used often in the field events in making the last opportunity you have the best one it can be. For Arizona State junior Jorinde van Klinken in the women’s discus final, the ‘last one’ was indeed the ‘best one’, and to date, the best one in NCAA championships history.

The Pac-12 champion from Assen, Netherlands, stood in second place after the first three throws with a second-round mark of 198-8 (60.56m).

Defending champion Laulagua Tausaga of Iowa gained early control with a massive throw of 208-5 (63.53m) in the second round. At the time, it was the meet’s best throw since 1999 and almost a foot better than Tausaga’s winning mark from the 2019 championships.

van Klinken, who entered the meet as the world and collegiate leader, tried to respond, but struggled to get over the 200-foot mark needed to challenge the champion. In Round 5, van Klinken delivered a throw that sailed beyond the 60-meter line and looked close to being a new leader. However, the measure was five inches short of Tausaga but still impressive at 208-0 (63.41m).

Then, ‘last one, best one.’

Van Klinken entered the ring in the final round, with the penultimate throw and the desire to get the big one … and that, she did. She cranked a throw that powered to the right-side of the sector and was clearly a new leading mark. It was not only the new leader, but a new meet record, 213-3 (65.01m), topping the former record set in 1999 by UCLA’s Seilala Sua of 210-10 (64.26m).

The downside of not having the lead after the first three throws is that the leader at-that-time always gets the last say. van Klinken had to watch Tausaga take the ring for her last attempt.

Tausuga did her best to respond and defend her title, but it wasn’t to be.

van Klinken is Arizona State’s fifth NCAA champion in the women’s discus. Maggie Ewen was the last Sun Devil to win the event, doing so in 2018.