In just her third meet of the 2026 athletics season, Bahamian national record holder in the women’s discus Serena Brown has already surpassed her previous personal best and now former national record.
Brown has been steadily gaining momentum since making her return to the throwing scene following a five-year hiatus from the sport of track and field. She produced a massive throw of 61.26 meters (m) — 201’ — at the 2026 Oklahoma Throws Series, hosted at Millican Field in Ramona, Oklahoma, on Sunday.
Brown’s new personal best erased her former national record of 60.92m (199’ 10”), which she set at the 2021 Blue Marlin Track & Field Series at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium.
Finishing second behind Brown was Romi Griese, representing Seal Throwing. She ended the meet with a toss of 48.16m (158’).
The 27-year-old national record holder was overjoyed, expressing what it means to accomplish this milestone despite her time away from the sport.
“It definitely feels surreal … I am just overwhelmingly grateful,” Brown said. “Training has been more consistent now that I have moved up to Pennsylvania to be with a training group. There is nothing like group training, especially post collegiately.”
Brown said this is the beginning of things to come. She has competed in only two meets this season due to setbacks resulting from illness late last year.
Brown made her season debut at the 2026 Cameron Burrell Invitational in Houston, Texas, in May. She recorded a winning throw of 56.60m (185’ 8”), which came on her third attempt, securing her first victory of the season.
While the mark was enough for the win, she told Nassau Guardian Sports there were some technical aspects of her throw that she wanted to clean up moving forward.
She spoke about what felt different this time around.
“I have definitely cleaned up my over rotation problem out of the back of the circle,” Brown said. “I am driving to the front much better because of that correction, but I am still a bit early with the upper body — my left side particularly. It is still coming down to separation, as I need to efficiently generate and distribute the torque behind the instrument.”
The latest throw was extra special for Brown because she not only set a new national record, but also climbed to 34th overall on the 2026 World Athletics Top Performance list in the women’s discus throw event. Additionally, she sits in the top three in the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games rankings list.
Brown is third, trailing Cuban thrower Silinda Morales and Jamaican Samantha Hall.
“Honestly, I am so happy to be in the top 50, but I am dissatisfied — I want more,” she said. “I have tasted the top five in the world as a junior, and I have my eyes on that [getting that high again]. It will take time and a lot of hard work, but I definitely believe that I can do it.”
The national record holder was a force to be reckoned with at the junior level.
The three-time national champion delivered one of her most memorable performances at the 2016 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Under-20 (U20) Championships, when she broke both Chafree Bain’s junior national record and Laverne Eve’s national record in the discus throw event.
Her goal now to represent The Bahamas at the CAC Games, which is scheduled to take place from July 24 to August 8 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
“As far as the Commonwealth and CAC Games go, I have to wait on the BAAA [Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations] and BOC [Bahamas Olympic Committee] to decide whether they will take me,” she said. “I have hope for CACs because the deadline was today, and my mark is updated on World Athletics. Nevertheless, I am gonna keep working hard, getting stronger and more efficient so I can bring back some hardware this summer, but if that is not the case the goal is to continue building my world rankings for world champs next year.”
Brown will return home for the BAAA Junior and Senior National Track and Field Championships, and Invitational, scheduled for June 19-21 at the original Thomas A. Robinson Track and Field Stadium.
