John Mudge
Zaila Avant-garde, a 14-year-old from New Orleans, Louisiana, has become the first African American to win the US Scripps National Spelling Bee.
She cruised to victory with the word “murraya”, a type of tropical tree, after having to spell out “querimonious” and “solidungulate”.
Despite practising for up to seven hours a day, she describes spelling as a side hobby – Zaila’s main focus is on becoming a basketball pro. She already holds three world records for dribbling multiple balls at once.
Zaila saw off a field of 11 finalists on Thursday to win the title and bagged a first-place prize of $50,000 (£36,000) at the event in Orlando, Florida.
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