A look ahead to the men’s jumps events at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games

High jump

Derek Drouin goes into the men s high jump as the clear favourite, the Canadian having set his 2.40m personal best and Commonwealth record in Des Moines, USA, in April, and he also has the benefit of having world and Olympic experience behind him.

Canada has another athlete at the top end of the Commonwealth rankings in Michael Mason, who finished seventh at the last edition of this event in 2010 and possesses a PB of 2.31m. He has cleared 2.28m this season.

Tom Parsons leads the entries from the home nations with his 2.30m PB. Fellow Englishman Chris Baker has gone higher than him this season though with 2.27m. The pair are set to be joined by the likes of Scottish athletes Allan Smith and David Smith, both of whom have also cleared 2.25m this season.

Facts and figures

Predictions: 1 Derek Drouin (CAN); 2 Mike Mason (CAN); 3 Tom Parsons (ENG). Predicted mark: 2.38m
Reigning champion: Donald Thomas (BAH) 2.32

Pole vault

With his clearance of 5.70m in Des Moines, USA, in April, England s Steve Lewis leads the Commonwealth rankings and will be looking to go one better than his silver from Delhi in 2010.

He is joined in Glasgow by fellow English athlete Luke Cutts, who broke Lewis British record in clearing 5.83m indoors in January. Cutts has a best of 5.60m outdoors this year.

Canadian record-holder Shawn Barber is also a big medal hope as he sits behind Lewis in this season s rankings with 5.65m.

Hoping to make the most of the home advantage will be 21-year-old Jax Thoirs who also features high up on the season list with his 5.60m outdoor PB, while England s 2010 bronze medallist Max Eaves cleared a PB of 5.62m the weekend before the Games.

Scotland’s Gregor MacLean heads into the competition with a 5.45m PB set this year.

Facts and figures

Predictions: 1 Jax Thoirs (SCO); 2 Shawn Barber (CAN); 3 Steven Lewis (ENG). Predicted mark: 5.60m
Reigning champion: Steve Hooker (AUS) 5.60

Long jump

With his 8.51m UK record set in Chula Vista in April, England’s Greg Rutherford leads the long jump entries, though the Olympic champion had his final preparations for Glasgow interrupted by a knee niggle.

He goes up against fellow Englishmen Chris Tomlinson and British Champion JJ Jegede.

South Africa s Zarck Visser was one centimetre off his 2013 PB when he leapt 8.31m at altitude in April.

Rushwal Samaai also features in the South Africa team and is another of the eight athletes entered who have broken eight metres this season.

Facts and figures

Predictions: 1 Greg Rutherford (ENG); 2 Chris Tomlinson (ENG); 3 Zarck Visser (RSA). Predicted mark: 8.24m
Reigning champion: Fabrice Lapierre (AUS) 8.30

Triple jump

Phillips Idowu returned to jump a best of 16.99m this season having announced last year that he would be taking a step back from athletics for the foreseeable future” to pursue other interests.

He leads the UK rankings and sits behind only Arpinder Singh, who broke the Indian record with 17.17m in June, on the Commonwealth list.

Idowu s England team-mates Nathan Fox and Nathan Douglas have leapt 16.69m and 16.65m respectively this season.

The reigning Commonwealth champion, Tosin Oke, is also among those entered, but the Nigerian, who possesses a PB of 17.23m from 2012, will likely need to do better than his legal best leap of 16.60m this season if he is to make it on to the podium for a second time.

Facts and figures

Predictions: 1 Phillips Idowu (ENG); 2 Tosin Oke (NGR); 3 Arpinder Singh (IND). Predicted mark: 16.85m
Reigning champion: Tosin Oke (NGR) 17.16

For more in-depth previews together with rankings, a timetable and further stats see the July 24 issue of AW

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