LAST YEAR IN EUGENE Miltiádis Tentóglou was the formchart favorite and the Greek sat comfortably in 1st heading into the sixth round, with his 27-3¾ (8.32) mark 6½ inches ahead of Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer. But out of nowhere, China’s Jianan Wang, lodged in 5th, leapt 27-5¼ (8.36), to snatch gold away from the Olympic champion. That left Tentóglou with a bitter taste in his mouth that could only be remedied with gold.
In Budapest Tentóglou was once again the formchart fave, with Wang and Ehammer filing out the top 3 in the 12-man final.
Jamaica’s Wayne Pinnock — formchart #5 and the NCAA runner-up for Arkansas — added his name to the list of those to be reckoned with after his 28-¼ (8.54) PR led all qualifiers, but Tentóglou, jumping 9th in the order, showed that he meant business in round 1 with a 27-10¾ (8.50). Pinnock was next and he proved his lifetime best was no fluke, going 27-6¾ (8.40) and letting the Greek know someone was breathing down his neck.
In round 2, Jamaica’s ’19 world champ Tajay Gayle (formchart #8) stretched to 26-9¾ (8.17) for 3rd only to have countryman Carey McLeod (#6) overtake him with his 27-1¾ (8.27).
After a Tentóglou foul, Pinnock stepped it up and matched Tentóglou’s first-round mark with a 27-10¾ (8.50) of his own and, by virtue of having a non-foul backup mark in his series, now found himself in the lead.
There were no place changes after round 3, so the final 8 jumpers were ordered as such: USA’s Will Williams (26-¾/7.94) jumping first, followed by Radek Juška of Czechia (26-2¼/7.98), Swede Thobias Montler (26-3/8.00), Wang (26-5/8.05), Gayle, McLeod, Tentóglou and Pinnock.
No one bettered himself in rounds 4 or 5, meaning that for round 6 it was all or nothing.
Williams, Juška, Montler and Wang did not improve and thus kept their placings in 5th through 8th.
Gayle was next and he spanned 27-1¾ (8.27) to equal McLeod but moved into solo 3rd based on a better second jump. McLeod could only muster 23-7¼ (7.19), which meant the podium was set with Gayle taking bronze, leaving it up to Tentóglou to decide who would get gold or silver.
Tentóglou stormed down the runway and extended as best he could. His effort was rewarded with a 27-11½ (8.52) measurement that left Pinnock with one last gasp. Pinnock’s final try was commendable, but his 27-6 (8.38) meant Tentóglou had indeed redeemed himself from his disappointing silver in Eugene.
The final tally had Tentóglou, who is 25, leading the way, followed by 3 Jamaicans: Pinnock, Gayle and McLeod.
Afterwards, a relieved Tentóglou remarked, “The only gold medal I was missing is now mine. I stayed calm after my first attempt of 8.50m. I was sure that Pinnock had a lot to add. He is very strong and will give much more next year.” Looking ahead to Paris, he added, “Now I’m going to defend all my titles.”
Pinnock, meanwhile, remained positive, even after Tentóglou stole his thunder, saying, “When he pulled that off, I couldn’t believe it. But this is still a silver medal. It’s really a dream come true. Watching people like Tentóglou gave me the motivation as a youngster to reach the top. And now I’m there, nearly there.”
MEN’S LONG JUMP RESULTS
(FINAL; August 24)
(winds ranged from +0.8 to –0.7)
1. Miltiádis Tentóglou (Gre) 27-11½ (8.52)
(27-10¾, f, 27-6½, f, 27-2¾, 27-11½) (8.50, f, 8.39, f, 8.30, 8.52);
2. Wayne Pinnock (Jam) 27-10¾ (8.50)
(27-6¾, 27-10¾, 20-11¾, 26-4¼, 26-1½, 27-6) (8.40, 8.50, 6.39, 8.03, 7.96, 8.38);
3. Tajay Gayle (Jam) 27-1¾ (8.27)
(21-4, 26-9¾, f, f, 26-7¼, 27-1¾) (6.50, 8.17, f, f, 8.11, 8.27);
4. Carey McLeod (Jam) 27-1¾ (8.27)
(25-11, 27-1¾, f, 21-6¾, p, 23-7¼) (7.90, 8.27, f, 6.57, p, 7.19);
5. Jianan Wang (Chn) 26-5 (8.05)
(26-5, 26-3¾, f, 25-10¼, f, 25-11½) (8.05, 8.02, f, 7.88, f, 7.91);
6. Thobias Montler (Swe) 26-3 (8.00)
(26-3, 9-11¼, f, 26-0, 25-10, f) (8.00, 3.03, f, 7.92, 7.87, f);
7. Radek Juška (CzR) 26-2¼ (7.98)
(26-2¼, f, f, 25-1¼, 25-9¼, f) (7.98, f, f, 7.65, 7.85, f);
8. Will Williams (US) 26-¾ (7.94)
(26-¾, 24-8½, f, f, f, 24-11¼) (7.94, 7.53, f, f, f, 7.60);
9. Simon Ehammer (Swi) 25-10 (7.87)
(f, f, 25-10) (f, f, 7.87);
10. Alejandro Parada (Cub) 25-9½ (7.86)
(f, 25-6¾, 25-9½) (f, 7.79, 7.86);
11. J. Jeswin Aldrin (Ind) 25-6 (7.77)
(f, f, 25-6) (f, f, 7.77);
12. Marquis Dendy (US) 25-0 (7.62)
(24-7¾, 25-0, p) (7.51, 7.62, p).
| * = progression of the leading jump; ¶ = athlete’s best of the day | |||
| first 3 rounds | |||
| Gayle | 6.50* | 8.17 | f |
| Juška | 7.98*¶ | f | f |
| Dendy | 7.51 | 7.62¶ | p |
| McLeod | 7.90 | 8.27¶ | f |
| Parada | f | 7.79 | 7.86¶ |
| Ehammer | f | f | 7.87¶ |
| Aldrin | f | f | 7.77¶ |
| Montler | 8.00*¶ | 3.03 | f |
| Tentóglou | 8.50* | f | 8.39 |
| Pinnock | 8.40 | 8.50*¶ | 6.39 |
| Williams | 7.94¶ | 7.53 | f |
| Wang | 8.05¶ | 8.02 | f |
| rounds 4 & 5 | |||
| Williams | f | f | |
| Juška | 7.65 | 7.85 | |
| Montler | 7.92 | 7.87 | |
| Wang | 7.88 | f | |
| Gayle | f | 8.11 | |
| McLeod | 6.57 | p | |
| Tentóglou | f | 8.30 | |
| Pinnock | 8.03 | 7.96 | |
| last round | |||
| Williams | 7.60 | ||
| Juška | f | ||
| Montler | f | ||
| Wang | 7.91 | ||
| Gayle | 8.27¶ | ||
| McLeod | 7.19 | ||
| Pinnock | 8.38 | ||
QUALIFYING (August 23)
(auto-qualifier 26-9/8.15)
Qualifiers: Pinnock 28-¼ (8.54) PR (WL),
Wang 27-4½ (8.34), Tentóglou 27-¾ (8.25), McLeod 26-10½ (8.19), Parada 26-8¼w (8.13), Ehammer & Williams 26-8¼, Gayle 26-7¾ (8.12), Juška 26-7 (8.10), Dendy 26-6¼ (8.08), Montler 26-4¼ (8.03), Aldrin 26-3 (8.00);
Non-Qualifiers: Chris Mitrevski (Aus) & Liam Adcock (Aus) 26-2¾ (7.99), Mingkun Zhang (Chn) 26-1¾ (7.97), Jarrion Lawson (US) 26-1½ (7.96), Yuki Hashioka (Jpn) 26-¾ (7.94), Mattia Furlani (Ita) 25-9¼ (7.85), Mátyás Németh (Hun) 25-6¾ (7.79) =PR, Henry Frayne (Aus) 25-6¼ (7.78), Bozhidar Saraboyukov (Bul), Murali Sreeshankar (Ind) & Filip Pravdica (Cro) 25-4¾ (7.74), Emiliano Lasa (Uru) 25-4 (7.72), Jingqiang Zhang (Chn) 25-¾ (7.64), Cheswill Johnson (SA) 24-11¾ (7.61), Ming Tai Chan (HK) & Hiromichi Yoshida (Jpn) 24-11¼ (7.60), Chenoult Coetzee (Nam) 24-9¼ (7.55), José Luís Mandros (Per) 24-8½ (7.53), Ingar Bratseth-Kiplesund (Nor) 24-6¼ (7.47), Shoutarou Shiroyama (Jpn) & Mohammad Amin Al-Salami (Ref) 24-5¾ (7.46), Yu-Tang Lin (Tai) 24-5½ (7.45), Jaime Guerra (Spa) 24-1½ (7.35), Gabriel Bitan (Rom) 24-¼ (7.32), Jules Pommery (Fra) 23-8¾ (7.23);… 3f—Anvar Anvarov (Uzb), LaQuan Nairn (Bah).
(best-ever mark-for-place: 10q)
