About | Tori Franklin

Photo by Jeff Cohen

How I Got Started

Tori was born in Evanston, Illinois to Tonya and William Franklin. She was always an active child, and all through her childhood, she loved racing the boys. She couldn’t wait to do it on the track, and she eagerly awaited her opportunity to join her first track team in the 6th grade. In junior high, Tori specialized in the high jump. On her first day of track practice as a freshman at Glenbrook North High School, she stood on the pole vault runway with dreams of soaring through the air. Tori protested when her coach, made her try triple jump instead, not knowing at the time how this decision would go on to shape her career. After transferring to Downers Grove South High School, Timothy Pinnick coached her to jump 12.47m, winning the Illinois High School State Championships once and finishing second twice. Her desire to pursue motivational public speaking began at this time, as she drew inspiration from her coach’s ritual pre-meet pep-talks.

Tori’s high school success earned her a full scholarship to compete for Michigan State University, under coach Vanitta Kinard, where she acquired both the Michigan State and Big Ten Conference indoor and outdoor triple jump records. She also represented MSU in the 400m, 4x400m, 4x100m, and the distance medley relay. She currently holds the school records in both the indoor and outdoor 4x100m and 4x400m relays. Her distance medley relay team also holds the Michigan State and Big Ten Conference records.

Since graduating from Michigan State, Tori has established herself as a professional triple jumper with the help of her coach, Andreas Pavlou. She represented the United States as a member of the 2017 Outdoor World Championship team competing in London. She exceeded expectations and set a new personal record at the meet, finishing 13th in the world. In 2018, Tori won her second gold medal at the United States Indoor Championships. She went on to represent Team USA at the 2018 Indoor World Championships and finished 9th in the world. Tori’s professional triple jump career exploded on May 11th, 2018. Competing in Guadeloupe, Tori broke the Outdoor American Record in the triple jump with a leap of 14.84m. Her series featured the two best jumps ever by an American woman and included five jumps over 14.50m. On February 8th, 2019 Tori again made history. She broke the Indoor American Record with a jump of 14.57m while competing in Madrid, Spain.

Despite all her success, Tori’s career is just getting started. She is currently ranked #3 in the world in the triple jump, and she is very optimistic as she prepares for the 2019 World Championships and the 2020 Olympic Games.