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World Championships: Women s long jumpPublished by
In the countdown to Beijing, our series on the history of the Worlds continues with the women’s long jumpThe 1983 final in Helsinki started in style. Bev Kinch jumped a Commonwealth and UK record of 6.90m in the first round and halfway through that round wasn t even in a medal position. At the end of the round, Romanian world record-holder Anisoara Cusmir led with 7.00m but was overtaken by European junior champion Heike Daute, who jumped 7.02m in the second round. Cusmir s response in round three was a windy 7.15m, but Daute immediately produced a windy 7.27m and had further windy jumps of 7.16m and 7.26m to underline her dominance. Carol Lewis, sister of triple gold medallist Carl, took bronze as Tatyana Proskuryakova recorded 7.02m and finished fourth. All of Kinch s six jumps were between 6.81m and 6.93m and she ended up fifth. The 1987 final in Rome was an even higher standard as joint world record-holder Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who had already won the heptathlon a few days earlier, jumped a huge 7.36m, which still stands as the championship record 28 years on. Yelena Belevskaya jumped 7.14m to deny the defending champion and other co-world record-holder Drechsler the silver medal by a centimetre. The East German injured herself in the fourth round and couldn t take her last two jumps. The American defended her title in Tokyo in 1991, courtesy of a 7.32m opener but Drechsler, now competing for a united Germany, came close with a 7.29m and had four seven-metre jumps. Joyner-Kersee concentrated on the heptathlon in Stuttgart in 1993, which left the way open for Drechsler to easily regain the title with four jumps between 7.09m and 7.11m as all six of her jumps were good enough to have won medals. Briton Fiona May was only 15th best in Germany and failed to qualify for the final, but the world junior champion won gold in Italian colours in Gothenburg in 1995. May opened with 6.93m, which would have won gold, but also produced a 6.98m final jump. Joyner-Kersee was only sixth and Drechsler ninth after opening with two fouls. Surprise Olympic champion Chioma Ajunwa led qualifying with 7.01m but injured herself and leapt just 5.21m in the final. The event was won by world indoor champion Lyudmila Galkina with May third, Drechsler fifth and Joyner-Kersee sixth. Marion Jones, the 100m champion, finished tenth. In Seville in 1999, gold controversially went to Niurka Montalvo, who had been second to May in 1995 as a Cuban. Now Spanish, Montalvo jumped 7.06m in the final round to deny May gold, but many, including May, thought the home athlete s jump was a foul. Jones took bronze. Jo Wise equalled the best ever British result of Kinch to finish fifth. It was close again in Edmonton in 2001 as May regained the title and won her fourth medal with 7.02m to deny Tatyana Kotova by a centimetre with Montalvo third. In Paris in 2003, Kotova was again second but with only 6.74m as she and Anju Bobby George s 6.70m were the weakest ever marks to win a medal. Jade Johnson achieved a British best of fourth and was in a medal position until the fifth round. Eunice Barber won France s first gold in Paris on the penultimate day of the Championships with 6.99m. Kotova was second again in Helsinki in 2005 but eight years later lost her medal when her sample was retested, although she retained her earlier medals. Teenager Tianna Madison set a PB of 6.83m in qualifying in Helsinki and again with 6.89m in the final, with Barber taking bronze (now competing as Tianna Bartoletta, the 2005 winner won this year’s US title). In Osaka in 2007, Russia gained a clean sweep as triple jump favourite Tatyana Lebedeva warmed up for her main event with two 7.03m jumps. Lyudmila Kolchanova and Kotova took the other medals and still officially remain the medallists. Two-time finalist Jackie Edwards of Bahamas competed in a record ninth world championships. Brittney Reese was ninth in Osaka but was a clear winner in Berlin in 2009 with the competition s only seven metre jump. Lebedeva was second. Reese retained her title in Daegu in 2011 with the worst winning mark in history of 6.82m, which was her only valid jump in round one. It was close, though, and the top four were separated by just eight centimetres. Fourth-placer Nastassia Mironchyk-Ivanova would have won gold had her pony tail not made a mark in the sand about 10 centimetres behind her legs on her 6.74m jump! The best jump of the championships was Olympic champion Maurren Maggi s 6.86m in qualifying, though the Brazilian managed just 6.17m and 11th in the final. In Moscow in 2013, Reece squeezed into the final with just a 6.57m jump being equal 12th best and going through on a better second jump than her rival for the last place, Funmi Jimoh. Shara Proctor, who had been sixth for Anguilla in 2009, changed allegiance to Britain and led qualifying with 6.85m. In the final, though, she jumped 6.79m for sixth as Reese raised her game to gain a narrow win with 7.01m to win a record third successive gold medal. Close behind, Blessing Okagbare finished second with 6.99m and won 200m bronze. Long jumpYear | Winner | Distance | GB position and mark Points table (8 for 1st etc) Find other event-by-event history features here The post World Championships: Women’s long jump appeared first on Athletics Weekly. Read the full article at: www.athleticsweekly.com
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