COMPETING in her first meet outside of the US in nearly two years, Fil-Am Natalie Uy jumped 4.21 meters to bag a bronze medal in the Golden Fly Series leg in Phuket, Thailand over the weekend.
Uy actually tied with American Kristen Brown in clearing the same height but had to settle for third place on the countback of the event won by Englishwoman Holly Bradshaw, a Tokyo Olympic Games bronze medalist, who cleared 4.31 meters.
Uy’s jump was four centimeters off her gold-medal winning jump of 4.25 meters in her debut in the 30th Southeast Asian Games two years ago at the New Clark City Athletic Stadium in Capas, Tarlac.
It was also far from her national mark of 4.30 meters posted last May 25 USATF Invitational meet held in Prairie View, Texas.
“What an incredible meet here in paradise? The energy was unbelievable. Thanks @goldenflyseries2021_phuket for such an amazing experience,” Uy posted on her Instagram account after her outing.
Uy was sidelined last year by a hand injury that forced her to undergo surgery and is currently trained by American coach Brad Walker, who won a gold medal in the men’s pole vault in the world championships in 2007 in Osaka, Japan.