The women's discus team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics could be represented by two Indiana natives. One of them just needs to throw 96 centimeters - or 3 feet 2 inches - further than she ever has, in order to get to the Olympic standard of 63.50 meters.
On her 5th of 6 throws for the day, Rachel Dincoff, a 2012 Dekalb grad and former state champion in discus, threw a monster of 60.21(197-6) to take her into 3rd place. She had already hit the Olympic Standard back in May so she just needed to hold onto 3rd to be guaranteed a spot in Tokyo.
Dincoff ended her 6th throw with a foul but managed to hold onto that 3rd place position, securing her place on the team. She will be the first discus thrower to represent Indiana at the Olympic games, Felisha Johnson represented Indiana in the shot put in 2016. Johnson will compete in the shot put later this week.
Dincoff is a volunteer assistant coach at New Mexico State currently and is a Tracksmith athlete.
Fellow Indiana native, Micaela Hazlewood, took 2nd in the discus throw just ahead of Dincoff, but she has not made the Olympic Standard this year. The former Purdue thrower will need to find at least one more meet before the end of this month and go after that standard of 63.50 meters. She is 96 centimeters away from reaching that goal, just over 3 feet.
Hazlewood is confident she can achieve that mark, it is now the mission of finding the competition to be able to do so in time. The 26-year-old now lives in the Columbus, OH area and still trains with her college coach, Keith McBride, but in a unique way. They train via Facebook video calls and messaging due to the distance from Lexington, where McBride is the throws coach at the University of Kentucky, for her.
Hazlewood works at Columbus Springs Hospitals as a med staff coordinator and is an unsponsored athlete at this time.