If you don’t know her yet, you should. Meet Chase Jackson — a dominant force in track and field who’s heading into her fourth year as the #1-ranked women’s shot putter in the world. Read on to learn more about Jackson, her journey to the top, what she does when she’s not on the field, and her reaction to setting the American record last year. 

TOGETHXR: Congratulations on retaining your number one ranking for three years in a row! Going into this fourth year of being on top, what’s keeping you motivated? 

Chase Jackson: At first it was, I was just happy to get up there. Now it's like… there's more push. I thought it would be a little more nerve-wracking or pressure, but I've used the pressure, and I like it — going in and being expected to win. I eat it up now. Sometimes it doesn't pan out, and that's okay. It used to affect me [negatively], but now, I like it. I want to keep being up there because I want to submit myself as one of the best. 

TOGETHXR: Take us back a little bit — can you talk about how you first got introduced to throwing and when you realized you could excel in it?

CJ: I did it in high school as a side event because I ran the 100m and the 200m relays. I wanted to do [another event], and my sister did shot, so I was like, 'Sure, whatever.' They wanted me to jump, but I thought it’d be cool to hang out with my sister, so I never took it that seriously. I was pretty good at it, because I'm really strong. Then, I started getting recruited in college. A lot of the coaches were talking about how to get my body composition right. The throwing coaches, though, were like, ‘We need to put on some muscle.’ That spoke to me more. Then I went to college and did pretty well, but I wasn't thinking this would be my career. 

After my senior year with Coach Lucais MacKay, he got me thinking about events and world championships. There's stuff you can do; this can be a thing. It lit this fire — I've always wanted to be a professional athlete, maybe I could do it. It became a real thing. 

Social media has completely changed the landscape of it, too. When I started throwing, nobody knew anything about throwing except for Mrs. Trunchbull, you know? That was about the scope of people’s knowledge. I was telling my husband, I love that throwing has become a [more popular] thing, and that's because of social media. Now, you see all these kids throwing because they see the sport on Instagram and stuff. I'm lucky I found it, but it was definitely an accident that became my job. 

TOGETHXR: Over the summer, you set the record with your 20.95M throw, and then you came close to it again, only a month later. Walk us through that meet when you set the record — did you have something special for breakfast that day? Were you feeling particularly different? What was that feeling like? 

CJ: Yeah, I had thrown before I left for those meets. It turned into a training camp with some of my friends. I threw 21m for the first time in practice, and I was like, 'Bazinga! But what's happening?' Then we had one more practice before we left, and I threw far again. When we showed up at Ironwood for the pre-meet day, I threw Valerie Adams' PB. So, in my head, I thought, 'Oh, I'm ready to go.' 

I called the meet director, TJ, and I said, ‘Hey, I'm gonna throw the American record tomorrow. I need you to have stuff on deck.’ He asked if I was sure, and I said ‘‘I'm deadass, I'm gonna throw the American record.' The minute I heard them announce the number, I was so excited because that is really big for where shot put is right now.

TOGETHXR: We love seeing athletes express themselves through fashion and makeup, especially during competition. When did you start wearing make-up for meets? Do you bookmark different looks to try throughout the year, or do you go with whatever you're feeling that day? 

CJ: In 2019, I did like colorful eye shadow, but that was pretty much it. Ryan Whiting told me that I should do more with the makeup, add a little color, and not be afraid. So, I did more color until 2022. When I met my husband, he would watch me do these crazy things on my face, and he's like, ‘Why don't you do that for our meet? It'll be cool, and you can show people what you can do on your face, and it'll be fun.’ So I started off with little butterfly wings for the FPK games in 2022, and the reaction to it was super cool. So then it kept stepping up, and then girls were DMing me their makeup looks. I used to be so afraid to wear makeup — because people make it seem like you're not taking it seriously if you have makeup on. I think that's stupid. So I kept doing it. 

Typically, I don't even know [what I’m doing for] my looks. I never tell. Maggie [Ewen], my best friend, will pin things on a Pinterest board we have together. Sometimes it's literally the day of, and I still haven't picked anything. 

At the World Championships, it had started to rain, and then the makeup was burning my eyes. So I had to take it off in the bathroom before I went out. People's first question to me was, ‘Where's your makeup?’ And I'm like, ‘I have a silver medal. Do you want to know that? My makeup had to come off.’ It’s happened a couple of times, leaking into my eye. At the end of the day, the throwing is what I get paid to do, not the makeup. With my world title at Budapest, I ran to my mom, and she leaned down to hug me, and we were both crying. She left, and I could see my face… also left on her. The first question I got asked [after winning] was about where my makeup was. I said, ‘I just won Worlds. Can you talk about something else? It's on my mom's shirt.’ Hey, sometimes the weather just has other plans.

TOGETHXR: Track and field takes you all over the world to compete. What are you doing in your travel time? Are you a TV binge watcher? Are you a podcast gal? 

CJ: I watch a lot of YouTube. That's my weakness. I watch all kinds of weird stuff on there. The big thing that Maggie's got me into is that we started doing crafts. We crochet while listening to audiobooks and stuff, on the airplane and at the hotel. One time, we did the paint-by-numbers in China. That was fun. I just started needlepoint, too. I've turned into a crafty girl. Maggie and I room together a lot, do crafts, and watch anime. That's my vibe. 

TOGETHXR: Well, now we have to know — what's your anime recommendation? 

CJ: If you're new to anime, I would suggest one that Maggie and I are obsessed with, called Apothecary Diaries. It's a really easy one on Netflix. Super easy to watch and get into, and it's not too much. So that would be my recommendation — to dip the big toe. 

RAPID FIRE

Favorite sports movie: The Sandlot.

Favorite album or artist of last year: Glorilla. 

Sport you would switch to for a day: Volleyball. 

Biggest pet peeve: My husband leaves his socks in a ball and leaves them all over my house. It’s annoying because when you go to do laundry, it’s in a ball. You have to put your hands in it and origami it out.

Shout out a non-track and field athlete that you think is killing the game right now: I'm going to say Caitlin Clark, because she's our favorite person. My husband and I want to go see a game.

Biggest piece of advice for other young athletes: Do you. Don't be afraid of getting judged for it.