With a leap that cleared 6’6.25 in the high jump in March, Vashti Cunningham became the world indoor champion. She was still in high school. Now in Rio, the 18-year-old is no longer a high schooler, but she’s jumping for a medal at the Olympic Games. She cleared 1.94 meters (about 6’4 and 3/8 inches) in preliminary competition Thursday morning to advance to the final set for Saturday night.
For Vashti Cunningham, Rio is just an early stop in what could be a superstar career
The 18-year-old daughter of NFL great Randall Cunningham went pro as a high school senior, now she’s jumping for a medal in Rio.
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Cunningham, who signed a contract with Nike days after winning the world indoor title and will forgo her NCAA eligibility, is the daughter of NFL great Randall Cunningham. She’s not the only offspring of NFL greatness in Rio -- shot put winner Michelle Carter’s father, Michael, won three Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers. Michael also won silver in the shot put at the 1984 games, but Michelle one-upped him.
Like Carter, Vashti Cunningham is ready to pass her father’s athletic prowess.
"I think of her as a young Usain Bolt," Chaunte Lowe told Sports Illustrated. Lowe, 32 and a mother of three, is the U.S. record holder in the high jump and is a favorite to win a medal. "Everyone knew Bolt was going to be a superstar before he realized it. It's the same for Vashti. I'm talking about breaking records, doing things that nobody has ever done."
Lowe’s American record of 6’8.75 from 2010 isn’t likely to last much longer -- especially if Vashti is able to develop. She leaps effortlessly over the bar, bounding up to the bar with her rail-thin frame before soaring over it.
Vashti is coached by her father, who’s turned himself into quite the high jump expert. His son, Randall II, cleared 7’3 as a high school senior -- the highest prep-school leap in the nation -- under Randall’s tutelage, and now competes for the University of Southern California. Cunningham II no heighted at the 2016 Olympic Trials.
Randall was working with his son one day when he noticed what a great athlete Vashti was going to be. “She was about nine years old and started messing around jumping,” Randall told Sports Illustrated. “I thought, Oh, my goodness, she can jump too.”
He was right. Vashti excelled in the 400-meter hurdles, too, but turned into a world-class high jumper by the time she was a junior in high school. She’s the world junior record holder
Vashti will have her hands full on the world’s biggest stage in Rio. Lowe won the Olympic trials and appears ready to improve on her sixth-place finish at the London Games.
Vashti, however, cannot be counted out. She wasn’t supposed to win at the world indoor championships, either, but pulled it off anyways.
Randall knew how to shock on the football field, Vashti will have an opportunity to do so in Rio.
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