TORI Pena qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games on Saturday as she cleared the magical 4.50m height at a competition in Germany.
The Finn Valley AC athlete, a native of Huntington Beach in California with family ties in the north-west, previously competed at the Olympics in 2012, but she failed the opening height of 4.10m in London.
The 27-year-old, who has been aligned to the Finn Valley club for the past six years, booked her ticket to Rio as she leapt the 4.50m mark, which also qualifies her for the forthcoming World Championships in Beijing next month.
Pena is a four-time national senior champion and has a break from action to train ahead of her participation in the national championships on August 8th.
Last weekend in Rottach-Egern, Pena made no mistake at 4.50m for a season’s best effort and the American subsequently went close at 4.55m.
Pena is the Irish pole vault record both indoor (4.46m) and outdoor (4.60m).
On Tuesday evening, Pena didn’t reach the same heights, going over 4.20m at a meeting in Lucerne.
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