Welcome to the highlights of the men’s long jump final in the World Athletics Championships in Hayward Field, Eugene, Oregon.
Caceres: X (+0.3) Sreeshankar: 7.83 (+1.8) Dendy: X (+1.7) Wang: 8.36 (+0.5) [SB] McCarter: X (+0.6) Masso: 7.88 (+1.9) Ehammer: 7.94 (+2.3)Tentoglou: 8.20 (+0.5)
Green Flag! A dramatic turnaround sees Wang register a season-best 8.36m leap in the last round. The Chinese catapults himself from the fifth spot to the very top to clinch the gold medal. Olympic champion Tentoglou settles for silver as Ehammer, a decathlete, wins bronze. The home crowd would be gutted to see McCarter and Dendy miss out on the podium.
Meanwhile, it has been a disappointing outing for Indian national record holder Sreeshankar, who couldn’t even make the elite 8m club today.
Caceres: X (+0.5) Sreeshankar: X (+0.8) Dendy: X (+0.5) Wang: 8.03 (+0.1) McCarter: 7.87 (0.0) Masso: 8.02 (+0.8)Ehammer: X (+0.4)Tentoglou: 8.32 (+0.5)
Tentoglou has all but sealed the World Championship gold medal, the only title missing from his trophy cabinet.
Caceres: X (+0.1) Sreeshankar: 7.89 (+2.0) Dendy: X (+1.8) Wang: X (+1.6) McCarter: 7.88 (+1.1) Masso: 7.79 (+0.5)Ehammer: X (+0.8)Tentoglou: 8.24 (+0.7)
Tentoglou leads the contest of the top-eight. Only Spain’s Caceres lingers below Sreeshankar in the standings.
Pinnock: 7.84 (+0.2) Frayne: X (+0.6) McCarter: X (+0.1) Sreeshankar: X (+0.3)Tentoglou: 8.29 (+0.1) Caceres: 7.93 (+0.3) Dendy: 7.98 (+0.1) Montler: 7.81 (-0.7) Wang: 8.03 (+0.6) Hashioka: 7.86 (+0.4) Masso: X (+1.6)Ehammer: 7.78 (+1.8)
Sreeshankar slips to seventh on the leaderboard as Wang breaches the 8m mark as well. Tentoglou, meanwhile, is on a roll... almost another 8.3! Pinnock, Hashioka, Montler and Frayne have been eliminated.
Pinnock: 7.88 (+0.5) Frayne: 7.80 (+0.2) McCarter: 8.04 (+0.3) Sreeshankar: X (+0.6)Tentoglou: 8.30 (+1.4) Caceres: X (-0.5) Dendy: 8.02 (0.0) Montler: 7.74 (+0.1) Wang: X (+0.3) Hashioka: X (+0.6) Masso: 8.15 (+0.5) [SB]Ehammer: 8.16 (+0.5)
Sreeshankar slips to the sixth place as five athletes register 8m-plus distances.
Wayne Pinnock: 7.33 (-0.1) Henry Frayne: X (+0.8) Steffin McCarter: 7.87 (+0.5) Murali Sreeshankar: 7.96 (+0.4) Miltiadis Tentoglou: X (+1.3) Eusebio Caceres: 7.91 (+0.3) Marquis Dendy: X (+0.2) Thobias Montler: 6.12 (+0.2) Jianan Wang: 7.94 (+0.8) Yuki Hashioka: X (+0.1) Maykel Masso: X (+1.1) Simon Ehammer: 6.42 (+0.5)
An early lead for Sreeshankar. He, however, doesn’t seem too satisfied with the jump. The commentators, meanwhile, rave about how the Indian could get his very own TV show here if he manages to make the podium. Honestly, we won’t be too surprised if that happens!
The announcer introduces the athletes. Marquis Dendy and Steffin McCarter draw in the loudest cheers from the home crowd.
Men’s Long Jump Qualification Review
Murali Sreeshankar on Saturday became the first Indian male long jumper to qualify for World Athletics Championship final on the first day of the competitions.
Sreeshankar, who had entered the championships as a dark horse for a medal at second spot in the season’s top list, had a best jump of 8.00m to finish second in qualification round Group B and seventh overall.
Anju Bobby George was the first Indian to make it to the World Championship long jump finals and win a medal -- bronze -- in the 2003 edition in Paris.
Two other Indians, Jeswin Aldrin and Muhammed Anees Yahiya failed to make it to the final round after finishing ninth and 11th in Group A qualification round with best jumps of 7.79m and 7.73m respectively.
Those who achieved 8.15m or the 12 best performers from across the two groups qualified for the final.
Sreeshankar could not touch the automatic qualifying mark of 8.15m but made it to the finals as one of the top performers. The 23-year-old has been a consistent performer with his 8.36m jump at the Federation Cup in April, followed by 8.31m and 8.23m at an event in Greece and National Inter-State Championships respectively.
During the qualifying round, only Japan’s Yuki Hashioka (8.18m) and Marquis Dendy (8.16m) of USA crossed the 8.15m mark.
Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou (8.03m) of Greece, who won Group B qualification round ahead of Sreeshankar, world season leader Simon Ehammer (8.09m) of Switzerland and Cuba’s Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Maykel Masso (7.93m) were also among those who qualified for the final.
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