The Commonwealth Games-bound athlete jumped a spectacular 6.18m in front of a home audience at Sunday’s Aztec Track and Field Series Five.
Galpin had not broken 6m beforehand, with her previous mark being 5.92m from the wake of Birmingham 2022, and just weeks prior it seemed that she had called off her venture back into the field event ahead of Glasgow 2026.
But after getting back where she wanted to be in her main discipline, the 200m, she resumed training at the Footes Lane pit and was soon producing a mighty leap to seriously rival her best sprint performances.
‘I was hoping to jump 6m going into it, but I didn’t put too much pressure on myself because I was not able to do that much long jump training in the last two months,’ she said.
‘To jump 6.18m was completely unexpected. I did not expect to break it by that much.
‘It’s very exciting, and it was really nice to have jumped that at home with Holly [Drake] my long jump coach there, and Tom [Druce, sprint coach and fiance].
‘It was really special to do that at home.’
Her breakthrough performance sits just outside the UK national top 20 and is also her first jump beyond the Glasgow 2026 B standard in this event.
It came in the second round of the competition, after a 5.79m opener, and she feels she would have been hard-pressed to find more distance in a performance she called ‘nearly perfect for me’.
‘Perfect on the board, and importantly, it was technically pretty good,’ she added.
‘There’s a few little things that I could have done slightly better, and I would love to back it up at the Commonwealths and jump over 6m again, and I might improve on that again.’
The previously injury-troubled sprinter also ran her fastest 100m since August 2024 with an 11.87sec. in Sunday’s ‘A’ race.
She can now head to Glasgow newly confident in her form, both in the 200m and for her first Commonwealths long jump outing.
‘I’m really excited now, especially as having that long jump has been such a boost going into it.
‘I know I’m in good shape and I want to execute it as best I can and enjoy the experience now I’m confident in my body again and my fitness.’
Aztec Track and Field Series Five report to follow.
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