After a frustrating showing at the Paris Olympics, Trinidad and Tobago’s Tyra Gittens Spotsville is firmly back on track in 2025. The long jumper, who celebrates her 27th birthday today, has enjoyed a resurgence this season, marked by a string of consistent performances and a renewed mindset that has seen her return to winning form.
Gittens-Spotsville’s turnaround began with a fresh start in November 2024 when she started working with Texas Tech jumps coach Keith Herston. But as she tells it, her physical transformation was only part of the story.
“I would love to say it was some grand physical change, but it really wasn’t,” Gittens Spotsville admitted to Sportsmax.TV. “There were just a lot of personal and family-related things that I had to learn to manage. Once I figured out how to lock in mentally, everything started to change. I’m present now. My mind is nowhere else when I’m on the runway or in training.”
That clarity has translated into a strong season in the pit. Gittens Spotsville opened her campaign with a 6.36m leap on March 23, then followed up with consistent improvements across several meets. She jumped 6.51m (+2.0) for second place at the Texas Invitational on April 24.
In May, she won back-to-back meets: first leaping 6.55m (+1.3) at the Texas Tech Corky/Crofoot Shootout on May 1, then delivering her season’s best of 6.73m (+0.6) to win the Texas State Twilight Last Chance Meet in San Marcos on May 17. She most recently finished third at the Music City Track Carnival on May 31, with a wind-legal jump of 6.60m (-0.8).
A key factor in her improved technical execution has been the presence of her husband Donovan, an engineer whose knowledge of biomechanics has helped her rethink how she approaches the jump.
“He understands technique and physics so well, and he’s helped me translate it into something practical,” she explained. “For me, it’s now a language—what you apply to the ground, you get back. You get to tell the ground where to go.”
It’s a language Gittens Spotsville says she’s now fluent in. But more than just technique, the difference in 2025 has been her ability to focus.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t know what to do, I just wasn’t always in the right headspace to apply it in competition,” she said. “Now, it’s second nature.”
Gittens-Spotsville also reflected on the disappointment of Paris, where expectations were high but results fell short.
“It was very difficult to process, but once I stopped taking it so personally and started thinking clearly, I was able to come up with a plan,” she said. “It’s not a feeling I want to have again, but I know I can’t control everything. I just have to manage how I move through those feelings.”
With her confidence restored and her season gaining momentum, Gittens Spotsville is now eyeing several competitions ahead of the Trinidad and Tobago National Championships in August. She confirmed plans to compete at a few more meets in June and July and is targeting the NACAC Championships, where she hopes to add a medal to her resume.
“I don’t have a NACAC medal, and I want one,” she said with a smile. “It wouldn’t hurt—and it would be fun.”
Physically, Gittens Spotsville says she’s in great shape, thanks to a return to multi-event training that has her feeling stronger across the board.
“We’ve been very multi-training,” she said. “It’s taken some time, but my training has been amazing. I’m in good shape—let’s just say that.”
After a rocky stretch post-Tokyo, Gittens Spotsville’s comeback season is shaping into a powerful redemption arc—one measured not just in metres, but in growth.