National record holder Jeswin Aldrin finished a disappointing 11th with one legal mark of 7.77m in the men’s long jump final of the World Athletics Championships here on Thursday.
After fouling his first two attempts, Aldrin produced a 7.77m jump in his third effort, which was not enough for him to be among the top eight in the 12-man final.
Only the top eight jumpers remain in the competition after the first three rounds while the remaining were eliminated.
Aldrin, who had entered into the showpiece as world season leader with his 8.42m national record effort in March, had on Wednesday produced a best jump of 8.0m in the qualification round to be the 12th and the last qualifier for the final.
His last two jumps in the qualification round were also fouls.
The 21-year-old Aldrin had become the second Indian male long jumper to qualify for the finals in the showpiece after M Sreeshankar, who had finished seventh in the 2022 World Championships in USA.
Sreeshankar failed to qualify for the finals this time after producing a best jump of 7.74m in the qualification round.
For Aldrin, this was his second appearance in the World Championships. He had crashed out at the qualification round in the 2022 edition in USA.
In a dramatic final round of attempts, Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou clinched the gold with a jump of 8.52m, to pip Jamaica’s Wayne Pinnock who had a best a 8.50m. The pair were level at 8.50 before the final attempts but the Jamaican would have taken the top prize due to a better second-best jump - 8.40m to Tentoglou’s 8.39m.
Jamaican Tajay Gayle completed the podium with a final jump of 8.27m to push compatriot Carey McLeod out of the top three. Again, the two were level at 8.37 but the former stood third for having a better second-best jump.
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