Hugues Fabrice Zango smashes indoor triple jump world record

Zango's record (18.07m) is the first 18m-plus jump achieved indoors while Briton Jonathan Edwards holds the longstanding outdoor world record, jumping 18.29m in Gothenburg in 1995.

Zango's 18.07m leap bettered the previous record of 17.92m set by his French coach Teddy Tamgho

Hugues Fabrice Zango set a new world indoor triple jump record on Saturday, leaping 18.07 metres at the Meeting d'Aubiere.

Zango's record is the first 18m-plus jump achieved indoors.

The Burkina Faso national is the world bronze medallist and African record holder in both indoor and outdoor categories. He managed his world record-setting jump in his last attempt. His 18.07m leap bettered the previous record of 17.92m set by his French coach Teddy Tamgho, who registered his erstwhile record to win the European indoor gold in Paris in 2011.

Zango opened with a foul and followed that up with attempts measuring 17.33m,  a foul in round three, 17.61m in the fourth try and 17.70m in the fifth before clinching the record in his sixth and final effort.

Briton Jonathan Edwards holds the longstanding outdoor world record, jumping 18.29m in Gothenburg in 1995.

Besides Zango and Edwards, only five other athletes have gone over 18m: Americans Christian Taylor (18.21), Will Claye (18.14) and Kenny Harrison (18.09), Cuban Pedro Pablo Pichardo (18.08) and Tamgho (18.04).

(With inputs from AFP)