Who is Vashti Cunningham? Everything about the daughter of NFL legend Randall Cunningham who is competing in high jump at Paris Olympics

Vashti Cunningham has made the USA proud with her performance in the women's high jump event at the Paris Olympics 2024. The American high jumper jumped 1.92m in the qualifications for the women's high jump. While the distance was slightly short of the direct qualification mark of 1.95m, Cunningham managed to qualify for her second consecutive finals since the Tokyo Olympics.

Not many may know that Vashti Cunningham is the daughter of American football legend Randall Cunningham who played in the National Football League for 16 seasons, retiring in 2001. Randall Cunningham is also his daughter Veshti's coach.

In an interview recently, Randall shared some of the plans he had for Vashti before the finals,

"I always write sermons before every competition, so I just finished up the sermon titled for tomorrow [the finals], entitled , 'Focus, Focus, Focus'. It's setting her mind on God, and what He can do through her, rather than what she can do on her own willpower", he said [via Philadelphia Eagles].

Randall Cunningham, former NFL player and father of Vashti Cunningham [Image Sources: Getty]

Randall also credited his daughter's qualification to the crowd's support. In his words,

"The fans here in Paris are very enthusiastic. They are screaming and hollering the whole time. It's the total opposite of Tokyo [2020]. I don't know where these people get their energy from" (via Philadelphia Eagles).

Vashti Cunningham is participating at her third consecutive Olympic Games at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The American high jumper finished 13th at the Rio Games 2016, following which she made it to the finals of the Tokyo Olympics 2020, where she finished sixth overall.

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Vashti Cunningham's early life

Vashti Cunningham in action at the 2023 World Championships [Image Source : Getty]

Vashti Cunningham was born on 18 January 1998, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her father Randall is a well-known NFL player, who played for 16 seasons with various teams, ranging from the Philadelphia Eagles to the Baltimore Ravens.

Cunningham's mother, Felicity de Jager Cunningham, is a former ballerina. Vashti's elder brother, Randall Cunningham II, is a former high jumper. Like her brother, Vashti jumped initially for Bishop Gorman High School until 2016, when she turned professional, and signed up with Nike.

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Vashti Cunningham's performances leading up to the Paris Olympics 2024

Vashti Cunningham in action at the Tokyo Olympics 2024 [Image Source: Getty]

Vashti Cunningham was one of the youngest track and field athletes from the USA to qualify for the Olympics since 1980 when she made it to the women's high jump category. However, she finished 13th overall.

The American athlete subsequently rose through the ranks, to achieve a silver medal at the IAAF World Indoor Athletic Championships in 2018, where she jumped 1.93m to take the silver medal.

She went a notch better in 2019. Although she only won a bronze medal at the IAAF World Championships held in Doha in 2019, her performance of 2.00m was no mean feat. In 2021, Cunningham achieved a personal best of 2.02m at an athletic meet in Chula Vista in 2021, before she achieved a respectable sixth position at the Tokyo Olympics that same year.

Cunningham will hope to achieve a podium finish tonight in the finals of the women's high jump, which will be held at Stade de France.