AESCHYLUS ONCE SAID, “There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief.” Well, the father of Greek tragedy could not have summed the ending of the men’s long jump more succinctly, as last-second heroics by China’s Jianan Wang proved prophetic.
Last year in Tokyo, Miltiádis Tentóglou sat in 3rd going into sixth round. His final effort gave him the Olympic title, which he followed up with a victory at the World Indoor in Serbia last March. Coming into this championships, the favored Greek had lost only once this year, but since that February loss he has been on target.
Looking to upset the formchart leader was Switzerland’s outdoor world leader Simon Ehammer, who set a decathlon long jump WR earlier this year, last year’s Diamond League winner Thobias Montler from Sweden, Cuba’s Tokyo bronze medalist Maykel Massó, ’16 World Indoor champ Marquis Dendy from the USA, India’s upstart Murali Sreeshankar and Tajay Gayle, Jamaica’s reigning world champ.
Nowhere on the formchart was the 25-year-old Wang, even though he was no stranger to an international podium, having collected bronze at the Beijing ’15 WC.
Sreeshankar was the round 1 leader with a modest 26-1½ (7.96), followed by Wang (26-¾/7.94) and Spain’s Eusebio Cáceres (25-11½/7.91). Tentóglou, Massó and Dendy all fouled.
Round 2 was where Tentóglou set the standard. He leapt 27-2¾ (8.30) and was followed by Ehammer (26-9¼/8.16) and Massó (26-9/8.15). American Steffin McCarter (26-4½/8.04) was next, with Dendy sitting 5th at 26-3¾ (8.02). Sreeshankar, Wang and Cáceres fouled, slipping to 6th, 7th and 8th.
Of the top 8, only Wang and Cáceres improved in the third go-round, with Wang’s 26-4¼ (8.03) moving him into 5th. Cáceres’ 26-¼ (7.93) kept him in 8th.
The places remained unchanged heading into the 6th round, with only Tentóglou improving in round 5 to extend his lead to 27-3¾ (8.32).
Jumping in reverse order, Cáceres fouled, Sreeshankar did not improve and Dendy fouled, leaving them in 8th, 7th and 6th. Wang was up next and, boy, did he deliver, stretching to 27-5¼ (8.36), an inch and a half clear of Tentóglou.
McCarter, now in 5th, fouled, Massó and Ehammer did not improve, leaving it up to Tentóglou to unseat the leader. He gave it a valiant try, but came up short at 26-11 (8.20), leaving Wang with gold.
Said the victor, “It looks like Eugene isn’t only lucky-town for me, but something like a second home. Eight years ago, I took the World Junior title here. This place gives me amazing chances. I really like it.”
A disappointed Tentóglou reflected, “I don’t feel very good about it because my jumps weren’t a very consistent series. None of those jumps were correct. I was losing my landing in the pit and I had too many technical mistakes in the air. I didn’t like it.”
Ehammer, though not disappointed with bronze, now will set his sights on the European Championships decathlon in August. As for the 10-eventer in Eugene, he said, “I will watch the entire competition, I will be cheering all of them. Next year I will be with the boys in the decathlon.
MEN’S LONG JUMP RESULTS
FINAL (July 16)
(temperature 73F/23C; humidity 66%)
(winds ranged from +2.3 to –0.7)
1. Jianan Wang (Chn) 27-5¼ (8.36)
(26-¾, f, 26-4¼, f, 26-4¼, 27-5¼) (7.94, f, 8.03, f, 8.03, 8.36);
2. Miltiádis Tentóglou (Gre) 27-3¾ (8.32)
(f, 27-2¾, 27-2½, 27-½, 27-3¾, 26-11) (f, 8.30, 8.29, 8.24, 8.32, 8.20);
3. Simon Ehammer (Swi) 26-9¼ (8.16)
(21-¾, 26-9¼, 25-6¼, f, f, 26-¾w) (6.42, 8.16, 7.78, f, f, 7.94w);
4. Maykel Massó (Cub) 26-9 (8.15)
(f, 26-9, f, 25-6¾, 26-3¾, 25-10¼) (f, 8.15, f, 7.79, 8.02, 7.88);
5. Steffin McCarter (US) 26-4½ (8.04)
(25-10, 26-4½, f, 25-10¼, 25-10, f) (7.87, 8.04, f, 7.88, 7.87, f);
6. Marquis Dendy (US) 26-3¾ (8.02)
(f, 26-3¾, 26-2¼, f, f, f) (f, 8.02, 7.98, f, f, f);
7. Murali Sreeshankar (Ind) 26-1½ (7.96)
(26-1½, f, f, 25-10¾, f, 25-8¼) (7.96, f, f, 7.89, f, 7.83);
8. Eusebio Cáceres (Spa) 26-¼ (7.93)
(25-11½, f, 26-¼, f, f, f) (7.91, f, 7.93, f, f, f);
9. Wayne Pinnock (Jam) 25-10¼ (7.88)
(24-¾, 25-10¼, 25-8¾) (7.33, 7.88, 7.84);
10. Yuki Hashioka (Jpn) 25-9½ (7.86)
(f, f, 25-9½) (f, f, 7.86);
11. Thobias Montler (Swe) 25-7½ (7.81)
(20-1, 25-4¾, 25-7½) (6.12, 7.74, 7.81);
12. Henry Frayne (Aus) 25-7¼ (7.80)
(f, 25-7¼, f) (f, 7.80, f).
first 3 rounds
| first 3 rounds | |||
| * = progression of the leading jump; ¶ = athlete’s best of the day | |||
| Pinnock | 7.33* | 7.88¶ | 7.84 |
| Frayne | f | 7.80¶ | f |
| McCarter | 7.87* | 8.04*¶ | f |
| Sreeshankar | 7.96*¶ | f | f |
| Tentóglou | f | 8.30* | 8.29 |
| Cáceres | 7.91 | f | 7.93¶ |
| Dendy | f | 8.02¶ | 7.98 |
| Montler | 6.12 | 7.74 | 7.81¶ |
| Wang | 7.94 | f | 8.03 |
| Hashioka | f | f | 7.86¶ |
| Massó | f | 8.15¶ | f |
| Ehammer | 6.42 | 8.16¶ | 7.78 |
| last 3 rounds | |||
| Cáceres | f | f | f |
| Sreeshankar | 7.89 | f | 7.83 |
| Dendy | f | f | f |
| Wang | f | 8.03 | 8.36*¶ |
| McCarter | 7.88 | 7.87 | f |
| Massó | 7.79 | 8.02 | 7.88 |
| Ehammer | f | f | 7.94w |
| Tentóglou | 8.24 | 8.32*¶ | 8.20 |
QUALIFYING
(July 15; auto-qualifier 26-9/8.15)
Qualifiers: Hashioka 26-10 (8.18), Dendy 26-9¼ (8.16), Montler 26-7 (8.10), Ehammer 26-6½ (8.09), Cáceres & Tentóglou 26-4¼ (8.03), Sreeshankar 26-3 (8.00), Frayne 26-2¾ (7.99), Pinnock & Wang 26-2¼ (7.98), McCarter 26-¾ (7.94), Massó 26-¼ (7.93);
Non-Qualifiers: Emiliano Lasa (Uru) 25-10¾ (7.89), Radek Juška (CzR) 25-10 (7.87), Ruswahl Samaai (SA) 25-9½ (7.86), Chris Mitrevski (Aus) & Will Williams (US) 25-8¼ (7.83), LaQuan Nairn (Bah) & Jovan van Vuuren (SA) 25-7¼ (7.80), J. Jeswin Aldrin (Ind) 25-6¾ (7.79), Natsuki Yamakawa (Jpn) & Changzhou Huang (Chn) 25-5¼ (7.75), Muhammed Anees Yahya (Ind) 25-4½ (7.73), Tristan James (Dom) 25-4 (7.72), José Luís Mandros (Per) 25-3½ (7.71), Kristian Pulli (Fin) 24-9¾ (7.56), Samory Fraga (Bra) 24-7¾ (7.51), Salem Saleh El-Jerbi (Oma) 24-4½ (7.43), Benjamin Gföhler (Swi) 24-3¾ (7.41);… 3f—Tajay Gayle (Jam), Héctor Santos (Spa), Cheswill Johnson (SA).
