Thea Lafond wins first-ever Commonwealth Games Gold for Dominica

Dominica: Olympic Champion Thea LaFond won gold medal at 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Thursday. She became the first-ever athlete of Dominica to win at the games after olympic gold medal victory.

She secured the major title in the women’s triple jump with a winning leap of 14.60 metres. LaFond-Gadson won the final with a 14.60-metre jump, with a legal wind reading of +0.7 metres per second.

Jamaica’s Ackelia Smith bagged the silver with 14.04m, while Shantae Foreman took the bronze with 13.96m. This victory is a proud moment for Dominica and has added to LaFond’s own Commonwealth Games medal collection.

Previously, she won bronze in 2018 and a silver in 2022 before claiming this gold in Glasgow. Her latest win has made her the first Dominican to win a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games.

LaFond was the one who secured the previous two medals for Dominica at the Commonwealth games. She first made history at the 2018 Commonwealth Games by becoming the first Dominican athlete to win a Commonwealth Games medal.

She won that title in Gold Coast, America, when she won bronze in the women’s triple jump with a leap of 13.92 metres. After that, she achieved a silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. As she recorded a leap of 14.56 metres.

Her latest achievement in Glasgow with the winning leap of 14.60-metre jump has now completed her Commonwealth medal collection. Now she has a collection of bronze, silver and gold across three consecutive editions of the Games.

Olympic Champion becomes the first Commonwealth gold medallist: Other remarkable wins

LaFond’s Commonwealth Games victory came after she established herself as an Olympic champion.

She won the women’s triple jump with a national-record of 15.02 metres at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Lafond then became the first athlete from Dominica to win an Olympic medal. And as it was a gold medal, she also became the country’s first Olympic gold medalist.

She also won the women’s triple jump at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow in 2024. She scored a national-record of 15.01 metres in the Games. That victory made her the first Dominican to win a World Athletics Championships gold medal.

After that, she added another major global medal to her haul in 2025. As she won a silver at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

Lafond also raised her national triple-jump record to 15.25 metres at the Boris Hanžeković Memorial in Zagreb, Croatia in June 2026. As she is continuing her progression at the highest level of the sport.

National recognition by Prime Minister Skerrit

After the major victory at the Commonwealth Games victory, Dr. Roosevelt Skerrit congratulated LaFond-Gadson in a Facebook post. He said that her achievement is a proud moment for Dominica.

Congratulations to Thea Lafond-Gadson on winning Gold in the Women’s Triple Jump at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Your achievement is another proud moment for Dominica! Way to go Champ! He wrote in his post.

Thea Lafond-Gadson - Life and Career

Lafond was born on April 5, 1994, and she is a native of Mahut, Dominica. She moved to the United States as a young child. She grew up in Maryland and got interested in athletics as she was participating in dance. She was training as a ballerina while participating in dance.

She attended John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring in Maryland. Later, she studied at the University of Maryland. And, during her university career, she competed in many multi-event disciplines. Afterwards, she started focusing mainly on the triple jump.

LaFond made her debut in 2014 in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. She participated in high jump and triple jump in the Games. Afterwards, she represented Dominica at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. And then proceeded to achieve the title of the first Commonwealth medallist in 2018.

Additionally, she is married to her coach, Aaron Gadson. She has continued to add major victories to her career from her first Commonwealth medal to Olympic gold and now her latest Commonwealth games gold.

Her latest victory is a landmark achievement not only for her but for Dominica as it has given the country its first Commonwealth Games gold medal.