DANNIEL Thomas-Dodd extended her national shot put record to 19.77m at the USATF Los Angeles Grand Prix at Drake Stadium in Los Angeles in May, in only her fifth outdoors event of the season, and said she was only responding to the competition on the day.

In a season when she was injury-free for the first time in years and was preparing to bounce back from failing to make it to the finals of the World Championships in Eugene last year, throwing a personal best was not on her list of things to do that day.

“I think it was mostly because of how the environment was — everyone was there and ready to throw far and you know, it’s always nice when everyone wants to throw far, and I think that’s one of the biggest factors why I did so well,” she told the Jamaica Observer after winning her seventh national championships title on Saturday.

“I wanted to compete and I wanted to be there, and I wanted to be among the people and among the conversation of people throwing far.”

Thomas-Dodd — who has held the national record since April 2017 when she surpassed Kimberly Barrett’s 18.28m with a mark of 18.49m at a meet in Ohio, and who became the former NCAA Division One winner while attending Kent State University — has thrown 19.00m or better on 30 occasions.

The former World Championships silver medallist and Commonwealth Games champion in 2018, when she beat the legendary Valerie Adams of New Zealand, is enjoying one of her most consistent seasons with five of her furthest throws ever, so far.

She said her consistency is due to being injury-free.

“I would say I’m finally in a zone where I’m in a healthy phase right now, and I think that’s what’s been making the biggest difference with the consistency of my season. You know, in the past two years… I’ve had…numerous injuries, and just being able to finally mentally get over those… injuries has been the biggest pay-off for me this year.”

She followed up her Commonwealth Games gold in 2018 with a World Championships silver in Doha the following year, and despite being ranked number four so far this year she is not taking anything for granted in Hungary next month.

“I always say it’s on the day. You know, I know all the ladies they’re going to come up with their A game but it’s just whoever shows up on the day is the person that I believe will probably be more successful. And I think my chances are good if I play my cards right and… continue to stay healthy — then…it’s a positive look,” she said.