Student athlete Ackelia Smith has set her sights on making the Jamaican team for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics.

The University Of Texas (UT) at Austin junior has been making strides in the long jump and triple jump, having won both events over a week ago at the Texas Invitational meet held at her school

She’s no stranger to winning on the big stage, holding the 2023 NCAA title for long jump outdoors. Moreover, she has set UT’s indoor and outdoor records in triple jump and recently took the title for the 2024 Big 12 indoor long jump.

When asked how her younger self would be reacting to her accomplishments thus far, Smith responded, “I think she’d probably be jumping up and down.”

Finding her footing

Yet Smith’s transition from high to school to competing for the Long Horns has not been an easy journey. With the move from Jamaica, she struggled to rediscover herself in track and field.

“When I got to UT, I was literally confused my first year… [I had] to fall in love with track and field again,” the Edwin Allen High alum recalled.

The first in her family to attend university, Smith has always dreamed of winning a scholarship and competing at the collegiate. She recent shared her aspirations to achieve even more with a US-based media outlet.

“Back home, you hear that if you get a college education, you’re sure to get a job…I’m a first-generation college student, so I wanted to achieve some things,” she explained.

In 2022, Smith represented Jamaica at the World Championships in Eugene Oregon. There she leapt to a personal best of 14.36 metres to qualify for her first major final in a global senior championship. However, she finished in 12^th place after jumping 13.90.

A month later she competed long jump at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. She qualified for the final with a jump of 6.35 metres.

At the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Smith took on both events. She did not qualify for the final in the triple jump, but she finished eleventh in the final of the long jump.

Levelling up

Yet despite rubbing shoulders with some of Jamaica’s track and field greats, the young athlete is focused on getting the next level.

“I’m on my way there,” Smith said.

Looking a Paris 2024 just a few months away, she’s confident in her chances to qualify. Smith has until June 30 to qualify and has a few more college meets to reach her long and triple jump distances: a 6.85 and a 14.5 with a wind-legal of anything under 2 meters-per-second.

“Everybody out there works just as hard as you, maybe harder,” Smith related. “And they’re trying to be the best… Every time you run, you jump, you throw, you’re just trying to be the best.”