Christina May PERSIGHETTI

After making her debut in a British international vest in 1956, Christina Persighetti rose to prominence on the British scene the following year when she won the WAAA long jump title and set a personal best to win her event in the GB-USSR international match. The birth of her daughter in the spring of 1958 ruled her out of contention for the European Championships and Commonwealth Games but she returned to seal a place at the Olympic Games in Rome as second string Briton behind Mary Bignal-Rand. She qualified for the Olympic final though the lingering effects of a back injury restricted her performance and she placed last of the 19 qualifiers. Persighetti recorded her best long jump mark of 5.95 m in 1961 and was runner-up at the WAAA championships the same year but never reached the same level of performance again. She died in October 2012 after a battle with cancer.

Personal Bests: 80H – 11.7 (1961), LJ – 5.95 (1961), Pen – 3807 (1954 tables) (1962).