Tyra Gittens was in record-breaking mood in Arkansas, USA, on Thursday, accumulating 4,746 points to strike gold in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Indoor Championship women’s pentathlon.

The 22-year-old athlete’s impressive score was a new Trinidad and Tobago record, bettering the 4,612 standard she had established in January.

Gittens also set a new collegiate record with her 4,746 points, as well as a Central American and Caribbean (CAC) record. The total earned the Texas A&M University student third spot on the 2021 world performance list, behind reigning Olympic heptathlon champion Nafissatou Thiam (4,904) and her Belgium teammate Noor Vidts (4,791).

Gittens is 35th on the world all-time list. Thiam and Vidts are seventh and 20th, respectively, with their impressive 2021 performances. Ukraine’s Nataliya Dobrynska is the world record holder at 5,013.

There was another national standard for Gittens on Thursday, the talented athlete clearing the bar at 1.93 metres in the pentathlon high jump to equal Natasha Alleyne-Gibson’s 26-year-old T&T high jump record. The impressive effort earned Gittens 11th spot on the 2021 world indoor performance list.

Gittens was thrilled with Thursday’s record-breaking performance in the pentathlon.

“Today means so much to me. When I was a freshman and looked at the collegiate record I just thought ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t think I can do that but I can come somewhere in that area’. As I matured, I definitely realised that it can be more achievable than I thought and I was so happy that I was able to do it today.”

Gittens produced personal best performances in three of the five pentathlon disciplines: 8.27 seconds in the 60 metres hurdles; 1.93m in the high jump; and two minutes, 28.22 seconds in the 800m. She threw 13.86m in the shot put and disturbed the sand at 6.58m in the long jump. Gittens was first in the high jump, shot put and long jump, second in the 60m hurdles and 15th in the 800.

“I think the 800 was definitely the thing that I’m most proud of because of how much of a mental block and just mental funk it is for me. Even though it wasn’t an amazing time, I broke out of that mental blockage and it was definitely needed today.

“I came into the meet saying, ‘However anything else goes, I don’t care because the 800 is one thing that I know I need to work on. And I was so happy. I could cry that it turned out the way it did and I stuck to it. I stuck to the plan.”

Gittens dominated the 16-woman pentathlon field, finishing 345 points ahead of her nearest rival. Texas A&M head coach, American Pat Henry praised the T&T star.

“It was the finest effort any collegiate athlete has ever had. She came to this meet with a lot of intention, an intention to win this championship.”

“Tyra didn’t win the SEC title two weeks ago and it shows the whole team that it’s about how you think. If you’re a positive person and go in there with the experiences you’ve had, be ready to do it on this day. This is the day that you have to put everything you know together to try to win an event. I think today (Thursday) teaches that, it showed that you can do it because Tyra just did it.”

Late yesterday, Gittens competed in the individual high jump and long jump events. Earlier on, University of Alabama’s Cherisse Murray finished 13th in the women’s shot put with a 16.12m throw, and University of Kentucky’s Dwight St Hillaire clocked 45.97 seconds for second spot in heat two and seventh spot overall in the men’ 400m preliminaries. St Hillaire will be back on the track this afternoon, battling for a spot on the podium.