It was the leap that affirmed his ambition.
Soaring 8.12m at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi last August, Erwan Konate surpassed the eight-metre mark for the first time in his career to get gold, roaring with delight when the French U20 record figures flashed up on the scoreboard.
That moment made the talented teenager certain that his future lay in the long jump. 
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 Winning at the age of 18, and with two editions of the global U20 event taking place in consecutive years due to the pandemic, means that Konate has the chance to defend his title at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22 in August. That&rsquo;s one of many targets this season, with his win in Kenya acting as the catalyst.
&ldquo;After I jumped eight metres in Nairobi, I said 'okay, that is a good choice!'&rdquo; smiles Konate, who is also a business student and model. &ldquo;Last year was totally crazy. My performance was so crazy for my age &ndash; it was a world lead for U20, a French U20 record. Now it is a new time with new goals.&rdquo;
That jump in Kenya added 21cm to Konate&rsquo;s previous best, set when claiming European U20 bronze in Tallinn in July.
Opening with a leap of 7.75m, his consistent series also included jumps of 7.80m, 7.90m, 8.00m and 7.98m, as well as his fourth-round 8.12m. He won by 15cm ahead of Jhon Andres Berrio, whose 7.97m was a Colombian U20 record, while Jamaica&rsquo;s Kavian Kerr bagged bronze thanks to a 7.90m PB. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/611ffdf45344ec56169050d6.jpg" alt="Erwan Konate soars to world U20 long jump gold in Nairobi" />
Erwan Konate soars to world U20 long jump gold in Nairobi (&copy; Dan Vernon)
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After that competition, Konate went on to make his Diamond League debut in Brussels in September, the same month he teamed up with a new coach &ndash; 1987 world long jump silver medallist Robert Emmiyan.
That also gave Konate another target to shoot for &ndash; Emmiyan&rsquo;s European record of 8.86m, a mark that places him fourth on the world all-time list.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s another level, another world!&rdquo; says Konate, who further proved his record-breaking ability earlier this year when he leapt 7.98m to finish second at the INIT Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe in January. That added 5cm to the ratified European indoor U20 record that had been set by Emmiyan in 1984.
While a performance like Emmiyan&rsquo;s 8.86m is a long-term goal, Konate currently has two significant figures in mind &ndash; first the 8.22m qualifying standard for the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, taking place the month before the U20 event in Cali, and also the world U20 record of 8.35m that has stood since 2012.
&ldquo;Those are my goals, but my first goal is to live my life and enjoy my life,&rdquo; Konate adds. Happy in his current set-up, the French rising star appears to be doing just that. 
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 Born in Amiens in northern France in 2003, Konate has spent his whole life in athletics. His father Papa Ladji Konate is a former triple jumper while his mother Virginie Scribe Konate specialises in the hammer throw.
&ldquo;All the time, I have been in the stadium with my parents,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;After their wedding, my parents went to the stadium! It is our life.&rdquo;
Early on, he showed strength in the discus throw but was most passionate about the long jump. Konate gives great credit to his former coach Erwan Mouaddib but felt that joining Emmiyan and being based at France's National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (INSEP) in Paris was an important next step in his career.
From the three sessions per week training he did in the lead up to the European and World U20 Championships, Konate says he now trains &ldquo;like a professional athlete&rdquo;. He recently joined Emmiyan and his training partner Jules Pommery on a camp in Corsica to prepare for his busy outdoor campaign.
&ldquo;He is so talented,&rdquo; says Emmiyan, who is also president of the Armenian athletics federation. &ldquo;I was so happy that he won the World U20 Championships last year in Kenya and that this year he broke my European U20 record. Now this season is very important because he can become a two-time world U20 champion.
&ldquo;He also has the capacity to qualify for the senior world championships and has a lot of different invitations regarding international competitions.&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/627aa1f9a7249c49e5d817d5.jpg" alt="Erwan Konate competes at the INIT Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe" />
Erwan Konate competes at the INIT Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe (&copy; Getty Images)
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During the camp, Konate was training twice a day, five times a week, with a focus on speed and transition.
&ldquo;Erwan comes from a wonderful athletic family,&rdquo; Emmiyan adds. &ldquo;They support at all times. His mother writes the power training programme. We cooperate very well. This is important.&rdquo;
And Konate&rsquo;s relationship with Emmiyan means they too have become like family.
&ldquo;Erwan is also speaking a little bit of Armenian!&rdquo; Emmiyan laughs. &ldquo;The relationship between coach and athletes is so important. We stay like family.
&ldquo;I trust him, I see his motivation, and he trusts me. We feel comfortable together and with the group.&rdquo;
Konate agrees. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very important for me. I live my life all the time with one guy &ndash; my coach and my partner. For me he is an inspiration.&rdquo;
With so much to aim for &ndash; including a home Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 &ndash; that support network will remain key as Konate prioritises his happiness.
&ldquo;I trained very hard on my mentality because it was tough after Nairobi, because I had a lot of pressure,&rdquo; he says.
&ldquo;I try, with my body and with my head, to jump far. I don&rsquo;t have a barrier in my mind, I just say jump. Maybe you win, maybe you lose, but you jump.&rdquo;
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

World Athletics U20 Championships

8.12m – it was the leap that affirmed his ambition.

World U20 title just the start for long jump talent Konate

A clash between two global long jump champions and a rematch between the world and Olympic discus medallists will be among the highlights at the Pietro Mennea Golden Gala &ndash; part of the Wanda Diamond League &ndash; on 9 June.
German star Malaika Mihambo has dominated the women&rsquo;s long jump in recent years, winning European gold in 2018, world gold in 2019 &ndash; setting a PB of 7.30m &ndash; and Olympic gold in 2021. Mihambo won in Rome three years ago with 7.07m &ndash; the first seven-metre jump of her career.
This year she will take on Ivana Vuleta, who recently retained her world indoor title, Ukraine&rsquo;s European indoor champion Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk, Sweden&rsquo;s Khaddi Sagnia, Britain&rsquo;s Jazmin Sawyers, Chantel Malone from British Virgin Islands, and Italy&rsquo;s Larissa Iapichino.
The men&rsquo;s discus cast is just as star-studded as the women&rsquo;s long jump, and it features all three medallists from last year&rsquo;s Olympic Games and the 2019 World Championships.
World and Olympic champion Daniel Stahl will be aiming to achieve his first victory at the Golden Gala in what will be his fourth appearance at the meeting. The Swede will be joined by compatriot and Olympic silver medallist Simon Pettersson, world silver medallist Fedrick Dacres of Jamaica, world and Olympic bronze medallist Lukas Weisshaidinger of Austria, 2017 world champion Andrius Gudzius, and two-time European U23 champion Kristian Ceh.
Organisers for World Athletics

Clash between two global long jump champions and a rematch between the world and Olympic discus medallists

Mihambo and Stahl lead loaded field event line-ups for Rome

The famed running coach Arthur Lydiard once said that there are &ldquo;champions everywhere, every street&rsquo;s got them &ndash; all we need to do is train them properly.&rdquo;
Evangelos Papanikos knows the truth in that. In Grevena, a small town in northern Greece, he was coaching at the local athletics stadium many years ago when his eye was drawn to one of the teenagers doing parkour in the stands.&nbsp;
One kid was older, more athletic, than the others, displaying a blend of power, speed and gymnastic agility that Papanikos knew could be put to good use on a track, or indeed the field. He convinced the youngster to give athletics a go.&nbsp;
That kid was Miltiadis Tentoglou, and these days he&rsquo;s the reigning Olympic champion in the long jump, the European champion and, on Friday (18), the day he turned 24, he added to his long list of achievements at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.&nbsp; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6234e1df843cd12a386e2e2e.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 Tentoglou soared to a Greek indoor record of 8.55m to win gold with ease, sending a message that his success in Tokyo last year was no fluke.&nbsp;
He&rsquo;s at the top, and it looks like he&rsquo;s here to stay.&nbsp;
&ldquo;He is very easy to coach,&rdquo; says Georgi Pomashki, who has coached him for the last five years, taking the baton from Papanikos when Tentoglou was in his late teens. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t have to do an exercise 10 times to get him to perfect it. It&rsquo;s difficult to find an athlete like that: it&rsquo;s a present from God.&rdquo;
When Pomashki took over, he could quickly see the benefit of Tentoglou&rsquo;s parkour background.
&ldquo;In parkour, everything has to be exact and he got this focus from this sport,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;This has helped to make him exact in his movement.&rdquo;
The sport involves moving between different points at speed, typically in an urban setting, without any assistance. It has its roots in military obstacle course training and martial arts, and requires an ability to run, climb, swing, vault, and, of course, to jump.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It makes me feel free,&rdquo; says Tentoglou. &ldquo;The coach saw me doing (parkour) and said I have some very nice abilities, so maybe come to training. I was not doing any sports at the time and was like, &lsquo;yeah, maybe I want to try.&rsquo;&rdquo;
His first athletics event was the high jump, Tentoglou clearing a solid if unexceptional 1.80m in his first competition. &ldquo;But when I tried the long jump, I was immediately good,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I was 15 and did 6.38m in my first competition.&rdquo;
Tentoglou had no athletics background in his family, and as a child his dream was to become a MotoGP rider, then a surfer, then a parkour professional. But as he developed in the long jump, he knew that event would take precedence. He moved to Athens and enrolled at university, leaving behind the tutelage of Papanikos to join up with Pomashki.&nbsp;
&ldquo;No one can stop the development of an athlete, only delay it,&rdquo; Papanikos once told the website Athina984. &ldquo;The best must train with the best, in the best stages and with the best conditions. If they lived in Grevena to satisfy our localism, we would be a brake on their careers.&rdquo;
In 2016, Tentoglou jumped 8.19m at the age of 18 and competed at the Rio Olympics. The following year, he was European U20 champion, and bettered his PB with 8.30m. The European senior title followed in 2018, and Tentoglou made the world final in Doha in 2019, but failed to truly fire in that event, finishing 10th with 7.79m.&nbsp;
For many, the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 was a curse, but for Tentoglou it proved a blessing.&nbsp;
&ldquo;He was very lucky to have one more year to (prepare for) the Olympic Games,&rdquo; says Pomashki. &ldquo;Ninety percent of athletes have their personal best between 20 and 23, and he had luck to be exactly 23 (in Tokyo).&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/610776067f42eff73a3cbc01.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 Tentoglou opened his outdoor season last year with a whopping personal best of 8.60m in Athens, an improvement that had some wondering if it was a legitimate mark. When Tentoglou backed it up with 8.48m to win the Greek title in June, then won the Olympic title with a leap of 8.41m, the doubters were soon silenced.&nbsp;
Becoming Olympic gold medallist, with the platform and wealth it brings, can change a lot of athletes, but Tentoglou is adamant that he stayed the same.
&ldquo;I try to stay calm, do my training,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;After Olympic gold, some people are satisfied with what they did and slow down a little, but I didn&rsquo;t. I trained harder to build better results.&rdquo;
His coach is in agreement.&nbsp;
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the same,&rdquo; says Pomashki. &ldquo;Clothes, house, training &ndash; it&rsquo;s the same. It&rsquo;s in his character, and that&rsquo;s good for me as a coach. We don&rsquo;t have problems with training. If training is at 10, he will be there at 10, and not one minute after.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Since taking command of Tentoglou&rsquo;s career, Pomashki &ndash; a former world-class athlete from Bulgaria, who had a best of 17.03m in the triple jump and 7.95m in the long jump &ndash; has taken a cautious approach.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Miltos works at 60-70% in all areas,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;He has many parameters and they are all at a high level, but we train in low intensity in various areas. I&rsquo;m not a coach to press. I want all my athletes to have long careers.&rdquo;
This season, the focus has been on a key component of the long jump: speed.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I start to make more training on this, so he&rsquo;s running faster in competition,&rdquo; says Pomashki. &ldquo;I hope this year for more 8.60s and 8.70s.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6235f26e946289f00a4e8474.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 Tinkering with the speed of his approach is a gamble that can easily backfire, so Tentoglou made sure to experience the runway at the Stark Arena before this week, jumping 8.25m in Belgrade in early March.&nbsp;
Still, things weren&rsquo;t exactly smooth when he was back there 11 days later for the world indoor final. After fouling his first attempt, Tentoglou was &ldquo;very angry because I could not get my mark right,&rdquo; but after moving it back he followed the same routine in the second and leapt 8.55m.&nbsp;
In the third round he unleashed a monstrous effort, one that looked well beyond 8.60m, but it was ruled a foul by the smallest of margins.
&ldquo;After the first two jumps I started to think, &lsquo;maybe I can do the European record (8.71m),&rsquo;&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But then I was fouling. It&rsquo;s fine, maybe next time.&rdquo;
He knows he can jump well beyond 8.60m, but at the level he&rsquo;s reached, big breakthroughs are rare. Where can he find some extra distance?
&ldquo;I think I can improve a lot in my physical condition, my strength,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I think my technique is good, but maybe I have some problems in my landing. Even to gain five centimetres now is very hard.&rdquo;
For the European champion both indoors and outdoors, the Olympic champion, and now the world indoor champion, just one key box remains unticked. At the World Athletics Championships Eugene22 in July, Tentoglou hopes to fix that.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I hope I will be healthy, and I will do a good preparation, train hard,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Hopefully I can win it.&rdquo;
While his routine these days is regimented, as it needs to be, Tentoglou still finds time to indulge his love of parkour, doing &ldquo;a little bit, not dangerous things&rdquo; every now and again.&nbsp;
In Belgrade on Friday night, the man who first plucked him from that sport and channeled his talent into athletics, Papanikos, was sitting in the stands, along with Pomashki, as Tentoglou claimed his first world title.
Champions are indeed everywhere, and in Grevena all those years ago, Papanikos unearthed a true athletic diamond. It&rsquo;s a talent that&rsquo;s since been polished with care by Pomashki, one looks set to shine for years to come.
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

World Athletics Indoor Championships

Miltiadis Tentoglou started out in parkour but is now the Olympic, world indoor and European long jump champion.

From parkour to long jump, how Papanikos and Pomashki helped Tentoglou to the top

Every championship needs a home triumph to truly ignite the atmosphere. On Sunday evening (20) the Stark Arena should once again be rocking as Serbian star Ivana Vuleta (nee Spanovic) takes to the runway at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.
The 31-year-old is the undoubted favourite for the women&rsquo;s long jump, arriving as the defending world indoor champion and with the best mark in the field this year &ndash; the 6.88m she jumped at the World Indoor Tour Silver meeting in Belgrade last week. Vuleta also jumped 6.83m three times in that competition, a mark none of her rivals have hit this year.&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s more, she has a proven track record when it comes to handling the pressure of a home championships. In 2017, she won her second of three European indoor titles, leaping a Serbian record of 7.24m in front of packed stands in Belgrade. There should be a similarly raucous atmosphere in the arena on the final night of action on Sunday as Vuleta aims to replicate that success on the global stage.
However, there are several worthy challengers that stand in her way.&nbsp;
Chief among them is Lorraine Ugen, who sealed victory on the World Athletics Indoor Tour with a leap of 6.67m in Madrid earlier this month. She jumped 6.75m to take the British indoor title in Birmingham last month and promised there is more to come in Belgrade once she ironed out issues with her run-up. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6232111d5f147ca6fe7d0d4a.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 Nigeria&rsquo;s Ese Brume was a 7.17m jumper last year, the Olympic bronze medallist sure to feature in the medal hunt if anything close to her best, though this will be her first competition of the year.
Ukraine&rsquo;s Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk jumped 6.92m to win the European indoor title in Torun last year, and while she didn&rsquo;t record a mark in her two long jump competitions on the circuit this season, she should feature if anywhere near her best.
Sweden&rsquo;s Khaddi Sagnia has been in fine form this season, jumping 6.70m at consecutive events in Birmingham and Torun and could also be in the hunt for medals. US indoor champion Quanesha Burks will be keen to improve on her fourth-place finish at the last edition of the World Indoor Championships in 2018, and she has a best of 6.65m this season.
Tiffany Flynn was runner-up at the US Championships with 6.49m, and she will be keen to reproduce or surpass the 6.66m she jumped in January.
Akela Jones of Barbados is another worthy of respect, the 26-year-old jumping a national record of 6.80m in Clemson, USA, last month. She had a best of 6.54m in her two outings in Europe since then.
Spain&rsquo;s Fatima Diame should also be in the hunt, the 25-year-old jumping an indoor PB of 6.64m in Lievin last month, while Italy&rsquo;s rising star Larissa Iapichino jumped a world U20 indoor record of 6.91m last year and the&nbsp;19-year-old has a best of 6.59m this season.
Nigeria&rsquo;s Ruth Osoro is also in the field, and has a best of 6.59m this season.
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

A look at the contenders in the women's long jump at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

Home star Vuleta leads strong long jump field in Belgrade

One glance at the medal record of Greek long jumper Miltiadis Tentoglou is enough to tell you that here is a championship performer.
The 23-year-old from Grevena, a world U18 silver medallist in 2016, went on to win European indoor titles either side of his 2018 European outdoor victory, and at last summer&rsquo;s Tokyo Olympics he earned the ultimate gold in the most dramatic of circumstances.
With Cuba&rsquo;s own 23-year-old long jump sensation, Juan Miguel Echevarria, poised to take the title thanks to an effort of 8.41m, Tentoglou&nbsp;matched it with his sixth and final effort &ndash; and won gold through a second-best jump of 8.11m that exceeded his rival&rsquo;s by just two centimetres.
So the Greek, currently ranked world No.1 and joint second on this season&rsquo;s world lists on 8.25m, has to be the favourite for gold at the&nbsp;World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.
It will be no formality, however. While the Swiss decathlete and current European U23 champion Simon Ehammer, who tops this year&rsquo;s world list with 8.26m, is absent, there will be a strong challenge in the form of Sweden&rsquo;s Thobias Montler and the United States pair of Marquis Dendy and Jarrion Lawson.
Montler, 26, who has won two successive European indoor silvers and finished seventh in the Olympic final, is always highly competitive.
Dendy, 29, won the world indoor title on the home ground of Portland, Oregon, in 2016 and took bronze at the last edition in Birmingham four years ago. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/898b2108-f082-49cc-bac8-9291fd656ea1.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 His season&rsquo;s best of 8.14m ranks him fifth in the Belgrade field, but his legal personal best of 8.42m, and his 2015 effort of 8.68m &ndash; the best effort in five years, albeit with an illegal wind reading of +3.7m/s &ndash; offer clear evidence of his ability to produce a winning jump.
The same is true of Lawson, who has a best of 8.19m so far this year and whose outdoor best of 8.58m is only two centimetres shy of Tentoglou&rsquo;s.
Others to watch include Peru&rsquo;s Jose Mandros Martinez, seventh in this year&rsquo;s world list on 8.17m, set in winning the South American indoor title in Cochabamba, Bolivia, on 20 February, plus Japan&rsquo;s Yuki Hashioka, who has an outdoor best of 8.36m, and Uruguay&rsquo;s Emiliano Lasa, who has jumped 8.11m outdoors this year.
Dendy&rsquo;s winning effort of 8.26m at the 2016 World Indoor Championships was almost matched in the next round by the 8.25m area record that earned Australia&rsquo;s Fabrice Lapierre silver.
This is an event that seems to produce drama every time around. what will Belgrade bring?
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics

A look at the contenders in the men's long jump at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

Tentoglou faces tough test in hunt for next global gold in Belgrade

Germany&rsquo;s Malaika Mihambo delighted the home crowd at the ISTAF Indoor Dusseldorf, sailing out to a world-leading 6.96m to win the long jump at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting on Sunday (20).
The world, European and Olympic champion struggled with her run-up for most of the competition. She opened with 6.39m and didn&rsquo;t improve on that for the next four rounds, taking off well behind the line with most of her efforts. By the time Mihambo took the runway for her final jump, she was sitting in third place behind Hungary&rsquo;s Diana Lesti (6.53m) and Filippa Fotopoulou of Cyprus (6.42m).
But the 28-year-old nailed her take-off on her final jump and landed at 6.96m, smashing the meeting record of 6.79m that had been set by Ivana Vuleta in 2016.
&ldquo;Before my last jump, I knew that 6.39m wouldn't be my last word,&rdquo; said Mihambo. &ldquo;Unfortunately the timing of some of my jumps weren't perfect, that cost me 30 to 40 centimetres, but that motivated me to jump better. It was amazing to jump with spectators cheering us on in the arena.&rdquo;
Mihambo intends to contest the 60m and long jump at the German Indoor Championships next weekend, where she will wrap up her indoor season.
World leader Ewa Swoboda dominated the 60m. The 2019 European indoor champion led a Polish 1-2 as she won in 7.10 from hurdles specialist Pia Skrzyszowska, who set a PB of 7.22 for second place. The Polish pair also finished first and second in their heat, running 7.12 and 7.27 respectively.
Pole vaulter Bo Kanda Lita Baehre was another German jumps winner. The world and Olympic finalist had first-time clearances up to and including 5.71m, as did Piotr Lisek. Three other men also cleared 5.71m, then the five remaining athletes all passed at 5.76m and went straight to 5.81m. Lita Baehre was the only man to go clear at 5.81m, doing so on his second try to equal his outright PB.
Elsewhere, European indoor champion Nadine Visser won the 60m hurdles in 7.93 and Arthur Cisse took the men&rsquo;s 60m in 6.56.

World and Olympic champion closes in on seven metres

Mihambo leaps world-leading 6.96m in Dusseldorf

A look back at the key moments of 2021 in the jumping events

2021 review: jumps

In 2017, when Belgrade hosted the continent&rsquo;s best athletes for the European Indoor Championships, local long jump legend Ivana Spanovic landed the leap of her life to win gold on home soil. Now the multiple global medallist is working to emulate that when the city welcomes the world.
Global indoor action returns on 18-20 March, when the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 will take place in the Stark Arena. Understandably, it is the next big aim for the star of Serbian athletics, who signed off her 2021 season by becoming a three-time Diamond League champion and then had further cause for celebration as she married her long-time partner, Marko Vuleta. The 31-year-old will now compete with the name Vuleta on her bib, leaving her with another goal.
&ldquo;I have a new task now,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;To make my new surname as globally recognised as my name given by birth.&rdquo;
Given all she has achieved in the sport &ndash; both on and off the runway &ndash; both names are also sure to remain synonymous with her passion for growing athletics in her home country. With a career that includes 2016 Olympic bronze, two world outdoor medals, three world indoor medals including the 2018 title that she will defend in Belgrade, a total of four European gold medals and numerous age-group achievements, Vuleta is an inspiration to many, and is determined to leave a legacy for the next generation. 
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 &ldquo;We are all excited to be the host again, on such a high level,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I can't wait to enter the Belgrade arena and wake up all the energy left over from the European Indoor Championships in 2017. And add to it!&rdquo;
The performance to have produced such energy was the national record leap of 7.24m Vuleta achieved in the third round of the competition. Having soared what looked to be even farther than her leading 7.16m PB from the second round, she sat next to the long jump pit, waiting for confirmation. As the time flashed up, she rolled on to her back and clasped her hands to her face in delight. It was the longest indoor jump since 1989.
&ldquo;I enjoyed every minute of competing in front of this home crowd,&rdquo; she said at the time. &ldquo;The people were amazing. I&rsquo;m really glad I could give them this gold medal.&rdquo;
On whether that mark leaves her even more motivated for what she might be able to achieve back on home soil in March, she says: &ldquo;Of course. If the 2017 results frighten me, I would probably find an excuse to even try to get close to that result again.
&ldquo;All I'm thinking is that with a healthy body, I will again produce and deliver something to remember.&rdquo; 
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 Having won medals at every major indoor championships that she has contested since 2014, what is it about indoor competition that she likes so much?
&ldquo;I don't know really,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s like a different sport when it's indoors. With the crowd so close, you can hear their breathing and mumbling, and yes, no rain and cold weather! So, it's a huge advantage.&rdquo;
A series of injury struggles means it has not been an easy few years for Vuleta, who claimed her first major senior medal at the 2013 World Athletics Championships in Moscow, where she placed third. She went on to win a world indoor medal of the same colour in Sopot the following year, before a second world outdoor bronze in Beijing in 2015. Vuleta matched that podium place at the 2016 Olympics, following a winter in which she claimed world indoor silver in Portland, and completed the set of world indoor medals when getting gold in Birmingham in 2018 &ndash; her first global senior title, gained a decade after the international title she claimed as a teenager at the World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz. 
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 Injury then ruled her out of the 2019 World Championships in Doha and she was also forced to miss the defence of her European indoor title &ndash; having been targeting a fourth consecutive gold &ndash; this March. After a series of wins, including at the Wanda Diamond League meetings in Florence and Stockholm, she headed to Tokyo for her fourth Olympic Games, with Vuleta having made her debut as an 18-year-old in Beijing. In qualifying she soared out to the seven-metre mark for the first time since 2018, and that would remain the joint best mark of the entire competition. She later achieved 6.91m to finish fourth in a final won by Germany&rsquo;s Malaika Mihambo with 7.00m.
Disappointed to have missed out on another medal to add to her highly decorated CV full of impressive consistency, Vuleta bounced back in style, winning her third Diamond Trophy thanks to a 6.96m leap at the final in Zurich &ndash; her second-best mark of the season.
&ldquo;This one was a tough one,&rdquo; she says, reflecting on 2021. &ldquo;A long period of no competitions, the global problem with Covid, so back and forth &ndash; one step forward, three back and repeat.
&ldquo;I was sad about my winter season, then Tokyo, but as I kept on going, I was rediscovering my rhythm, so I was pleased with winning the Diamond Trophy and making the seven-metre mark.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6138f4758000f1faf99b1a1b.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 She also has the experience to know that the lows can be just as important as the highs.
&ldquo;There are times you make yourself forget some moments, for greater good,&rdquo; she explains. &ldquo;Failing is good, it's educational. It feeds your true nature to work on yourself more and get better in future. That's why I choose to let it go, because I have had my best and my worst couple of times in my career and I&rsquo;m thankful for each one of them. For me, the Zurich Diamond League was a victory meeting because I know myself, and I know what disappointment from one day does to me a day later.&rdquo;
That is also one of the messages she wishes to pass on to the next generation.
&ldquo;If I want to leave a legacy, I need to be involved in others&rsquo; lives and efforts, giving support in a way that they can feel like they can do it, too,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;So, I&rsquo;m there for kids, sharing my road, without hiding any bad parts of the story and making the story as raw as it was.&rdquo;
And as she prepares for the next chapter in that story, set in Belgrade&rsquo;s Stark Arena, could it be that the tale takes a twist? At the 2017 European indoor event she had ambitions of taking to the triple jump runway, to double up and combine that event with her main discipline. It didn&rsquo;t work out then, but might that be an aim this time?
&ldquo;It was a plan and I&rsquo;m still sad I didn't give myself a chance to try,&rdquo; says Spanovic, who has a triple jump PB of 13.78m from 2014. &ldquo;This time it would be too much, so I will just enjoy the triple jump from the crowd with my family and friends, expecting a world record from (Yulimar) Rojas.&rdquo;
A performance like that would of course receive huge support from the Belgrade crowd, but the loudest cheers will still surely be reserved for Serbian athletics&rsquo; superstar, Vuleta.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

World indoor champion hopes Belgrade's magic will help her retain long jump title

Spanovic Vuleta ready to make a name for herself all over again in Belgrade

A measure of a true champion is how they respond when the pressure is on, their ability to produce the biggest performance of their life when it matters most.
For Mike Powell, that moment came on 30 August 1991 &ndash; 30 years ago today &ndash; at the World Championships in Tokyo in what went down as one of the greatest duels in athletics history.
Going into the event, it hadn&rsquo;t particularly been billed as one of the big clashes of the championships as Carl Lewis was such a heavy favourite. The US superstar was undefeated in 10 years in the long jump and had won the past two world titles and Olympic gold medals in the event. He also went into the final in the form of his life, having set a world record to win the 100m title just five days prior. 
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 But Powell was quietly confident that he could end Lewis&rsquo;s winning streak.
&ldquo;I had been chasing Carl for eight years,&rdquo; Powell recalls. &ldquo;When I first started competing against him, he was beating me by 50 centimetres. But in the last competition before the World Championships, he only beat me by one centimetre on his last jump.
&ldquo;I knew that I was closing the gap and I felt like at the World Championships that was going to be my opportunity to finally beat him.
&ldquo;Speed is one of the most important ingredients in jumping far,&rdquo; added Powell. &ldquo;So when Carl broke the world record in the 100m, I knew that he was ready to break a world record (in the long jump). In my mind, I knew that I was going to have to be prepared to break a world record in order to win.&rdquo; 
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 At that point, the world record had stood to Bob Beamon for 23 years with his other-worldly 8.90m leap from the 1968 Olympic Games. Heading into 1991, Lewis owned four of the top six jumps in history &ndash; 8.79m, 8.76m, 8.76m and 8.75m &ndash; and looked the most likely candidate to one day break Beamon&rsquo;s mark.
Powell, meanwhile, had a best of 8.66m and had taken silver behind Lewis at the 1988 Olympic Games. But when he set foot in Tokyo, Powell could sense something different in the air &ndash; quite literally.
&ldquo;I felt special the first time I stepped on the track in the couple of days prior to the competition because it was really, really fast,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;People were complaining about the weather but to me it was perfect because there was a typhoon that was supposed to be coming in so it was really muggy and it was the kind of weather where at any moment there would be a lightning strike with no rain around, so there were ions in the air and it was filled with electricity. It was the same kind of weather when Bob Beamon broke the world record.&rdquo;
When the final got underway, the first round went in Lewis&rsquo;s favour. The defending champion sailed out to 8.68m to add one centimetre to his own championship record. Powell, meanwhile, managed just 7.85m.
&ldquo;We were different because Carl would jump consistently all day, while I started off a lot slower and I had to figure things out,&rdquo; explained Powell. &ldquo;When Carl jumped 8.68m, I wasn&rsquo;t surprised at all. My first jump was horrible, because I was pressing really hard. But after that I said, &lsquo;okay, calm down, just go back to your normal stuff and get a good jump in&rsquo;.&rdquo;
The calm approach worked well for Powell, and in the second round he landed an 8.54m jump to put pressure on Lewis, who had fouled his second attempt. 
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Mike Powell reacts to his jumps at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo (&copy; Getty Images)
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&ldquo;In my mind I thought, &lsquo;ah, that&rsquo;s probably about 8.25m, maybe 8.30m&rsquo;,&rdquo; said Powell. &ldquo;So when they said 8.54m, I was really excited because I knew I had a lot more to go. I spoke to my coach Randy Huntington and he gave me suggestions of what to focus on. At competitions I would always look up to him to get advice.&rdquo;
Just as Powell was getting started, Lewis extended his lead in the third round, bounding out to a wind-assisted 8.83m.
&ldquo;I thought to myself, &lsquo;that&rsquo;s far but I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s quite a world record&rsquo;,&rdquo; recalls Powell, who managed 8.29m in that same round. &ldquo;He was definitely letting it be known that he was going for it.&rdquo;
Lewis landed another big leap in the fourth round. The wind reading came up first &ndash; 2.9m/s, over the allowable limit &ndash; followed by the distance, 8.91m. It wouldn&rsquo;t be accepted for record purposes, of course, but the fact it was farther than Beamon&rsquo;s mark was significant.
&ldquo;Carl pumps his fists to the crowd and he jogged past me going &lsquo;yeah, that&rsquo;s right, that&rsquo;s right&rsquo;,&rdquo; Powell remembers. &ldquo;At that moment I was so angry. I said to myself, &lsquo;okay, now we&rsquo;re about to get it going now, I&rsquo;m ready to go&rsquo;. I was going to wait until my last jump to really get it going, but I was so fired up from his response to his jump.&rdquo;
In round five, Powell produced the jump of his life.
&ldquo;I was angry, my adrenaline was so high. I was going through my visualisation and I never saw it more clearly so I just thought to myself &lsquo;go, start going&rsquo;. I had a great jump, I got a lot of air time, and then the crowd let me know how far it was because they were screaming and I could hear people saying &lsquo;world record&rsquo;. It was so loud in the stadium. 
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 &ldquo;It just felt good, I hit it with a really good jump, my approach wasn&rsquo;t perfect but I got a chance to get a lot of good height. I just knew that I had jumped past him. I was just waiting for the measurement to come up, I was happy because I saw that the wind was 0.3m/s. It seemed like it took a long time for the mark to come up and the numbers came up slowly, one at a time. It was like eight point nine&hellip; five! I will never forget that. I was so, so happy running down the track.&rdquo;
Lewis still had two jumps remaining, though. He came close with both, leaping 8.87m &ndash; a mark that remained his official lifetime best &ndash; and 8.84m, but it wasn&rsquo;t enough to displace Powell as the winner and world record-holder.
Both men had surpassed Beamon&rsquo;s long-standing record distance &ndash; one with legal wind, one without &ndash; and Powell had ended Lewis&rsquo;s decade-long winning streak to win the world title.
&ldquo;After Carl&rsquo;s last jump, I had to make sure and at that moment I knew that I had beaten him, then I was so happy,&rdquo; said Powell. &ldquo;I just started running, I don&rsquo;t know where I was running to.
&ldquo;At the competition in New York earlier in the year when Carl beat me by one centimetre, he came down to congratulate me, put his arm around me and said that was a great competition. So after that last jump in Tokyo he came up to me and I put my arm around him and walked him down the track, saying &lsquo;you&rsquo;re a great competitor&rsquo;.&rdquo;
But for Powell, his record leap in Tokyo wasn&rsquo;t simply a clutch response to a fellow opponent. It represented the perfect riposte to all the setbacks he had experienced up to that point. 
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 &ldquo;For me, it was just a culmination of everything in my life that had gone wrong with me,&rdquo; explained Powell. &ldquo;For every time somebody called me a peanut head or any girl who had ever turned me down for a date or anybody who had ever doubted me, that jump was for them, just saying &lsquo;take that&rsquo;.
&ldquo;It was way bigger than just a competition for me,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;It was me letting people know that I&rsquo;m making my stand and I&rsquo;m making my mark now. It was much more than a jump for me; it was a turning point in my life.&rdquo;
Jon Mulkeen and Jess Whittington for World Athletics

A measure of a true champion is how they respond when the pressure is on, their ability to produce the biggest performance of their life when it matters most.

Thirty years on, remembering Powell’s record-breaking leap

For the most part the women&rsquo;s long jump final in Tokyo on Tuesday (3) was more like an arm wrestle than a jumping competition, so closely matched were the leading contenders.
In the end it took one moment of brilliance to claim the Olympic gold medal.
World champion Malaika Mihambo trailed until the final round, when she unleashed the only seven metre jump of the competition to snatch victory.
Until then, the USA's 2012 Olympic champion Brittney Reese and Nigeria&rsquo;s Ese Brume had traded the lead through the first five rounds.
Brume opened with a 6.97m leap that kept her in the hunt for the gold medal until the last moments of the contest.
Reese joined her with a 6.97m best in the third round and for much of the competition it appeared likely that the gold medal would be decided on a countback between them.
Meanwhile Mihambo, who has struggled to find her rhythm on the runway all season, was gradually finding her range.
She jumped 6.83m in the first round and 6.95m in the third round to leap into a medal position but was still in third when the final round began.
None of the five athletes before her could challenge for the medals so Mihambo knew the bronze was secure and she had nothing to lose on her final jump.
The 27-year-old German flew down the runway and launched herself, touching down exactly seven metres into the sandpit to take her first Olympic title.
Brume jumped next and register 6.90m, leaving Reese with one last chance to take her second Olympic gold medal.
The 34-year-old American, arguably the greatest female long jumper in history, is an expert in these situations, and Mihambo could not watch as her rival began her run.
But Reese could not find one last moment of magic before she leaves the stage. Her last jump measured 6.84m and the gold moved to a new generation with Mihambo, who promptly burst into tears. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61090d345358e02fdccc0a5c.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> (&copy; Christel Saneh) 
&ldquo;This means really a lot &ndash; the last year was not easy for me, I struggled a lot with my run up," she said afterwards.
&ldquo;It was not easy to come back, to find my strength, to find my approach, so I&rsquo;m particularly grateful, thankful, overwhelmed and really happy that in the end I was still able to compete on a really high level, show my best and win a gold medal.&rdquo;
Mihambo said she tapped into every ounce of inner strength she possessed to produce her best performance on the last jump.
&ldquo;I told myself this is the last chance to show what&rsquo;s in you," she said.
&ldquo;I knew there was more in me than 6.95m and I knew I wanted to go from the stadium with a smile on my face, knowing that I gave my best. It was not about the medal, the colour of the medal, for me it was about being able to give my best, so I was concentrating on the trust I have in myself and my capabilities and my inner strength. Then I felt just calm.&rdquo;
Reese took the silver medal, defeating Brume on a countback as her second best jump was 6.95m to Brume&rsquo;s 6.88m. Reese ends her global championship career with an unprecedented 11 long jump medals, eight of them gold.&nbsp;
She said she was ready to pass the torch to a new generation, headed by Mihambo.
&ldquo;I am used to beating people on the sixth jump so it&rsquo;s kind of funny to get beaten that way," she said. But I am grateful, I am blessed. The younger athletes are moving up. I have done all I can and it&rsquo;s time to move on.&rdquo;
As Brume did at the World Championships in Doha in 2019, she took the bronze medal, Nigeria&rsquo;s first athletics medal in Tokyo.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I am super excited, I can&rsquo;t express how I feel," she said.
&ldquo;The journey this season was hard. I was injured in the middle of the season&nbsp;but I was able to continue&nbsp;and move forward thanks to my coach&nbsp;and everyone who has supported me.&rdquo;
For the first time in the history of the event, the top eight women in the final all jumped more than 6.80m. At times you could have thrown a handkerchief over the best marks of all eight athletes.
Fourth-placed Serbian Ivana Spanovic (6.91m) was six centimetres from a medal, with fifth-placed Ukrainian Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk (6.88m) just three centimetres behind. US college star Tara Davis (6.84m), Australian Brooke Stratton (6.83m) and Briton Jazmin Sawyers (6.80m) rounded out the top eight.
Nicole Jeffery for World Athletics
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: #ffffff; border-style: solid;" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
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<td style="background-color: #fd5249; text-align: center;" colspan="3">WOMEN'S LONG JUMP MEDALLISTS</td>
</tr>
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<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #e9c968; text-align: center;">🥇</td>
<td style="width: 65%; background-color: #e9c968;">Malaika Mihambo 🇩🇪 GER</td>
<td style="width: 25%; background-color: #e9c968;">7.00m</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #ced4d9; text-align: center;">🥈</td>
<td style="width: 65%; background-color: #ced4d9;">Brittney Reese 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 25%; background-color: #ced4d9;">6.97m</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #bd895e; text-align: center;">🥉</td>
<td style="width: 65%; background-color: #bd895e;">Ese Brume 🇳🇬 NGR</td>
<td style="width: 25%; background-color: #bd895e;">6.97m</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #34495e; text-align: left;" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/results/women/long-jump/final/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
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&nbsp;

In the end it took one moment of brilliance to claim the Olympic gold medal.

Last-round leap gets Mihambo gold in close Tokyo long jump clash

Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece saved his best for last to claim the Olympic long jump title in a dramatic competition on Monday (2).
Sitting in fourth place as he lined up for his final jump, the European champion unleashed an 8.41m effort to equal early leader Juan Miguel Echevarria and take command of the competition with countback in his favour.
That put the pressure on the young Cuban, who had been nursing a sore hamstring throughout the competition. Echevarria&rsquo;s pain, which became more readily apparent with each passing round, finally took its toll as he set off on his final approach. Never reaching full speed, he slowed to a jog and finally stopped before the take-off board where he dropped to his knees and pounded the ground twice before stepping off the runway.
&ldquo;What an incredible competition, what an incredible jump, the last jump,&rdquo; said Tentoglou, who at first seemed reluctant to accept that he had won. &ldquo;I wasn't able to get it right at the start. But in the end I managed to pull something out to get the medal.&rdquo;
It was a dramatic end to a competition that didn&rsquo;t fully spring to life until the final round when it appeared that Echevarria, the world indoor champion, would finally secure his first global outdoor title.
His teammate Maykel Masso took the early lead with an 8.21m leap in the first round. Then Echevarria, who opened with an 8.09m jump, took command in the third round, sailing out to 8.41m. By then, both Cubans were nursing their right hamstrings, Echevarria favouring his after each jump and Masso hurting enough to pass on his third- and fourth-round attempts.
An 8.11m opening leap left Tentoglou sitting in third through the fourth round until JuVaughn Harrison, who finished seventh in last night&rsquo;s high jump final, finally shook out the rust with an 8.15m jump to move into bronze position.
Tentoglou responded well, producing his own 8.15m leap in the same round to retake third, with countback in his favour.
Ailing, the Cuban pair could only watch as spectators from the sidelines as they passed on their fifth-round efforts.
Spaniard Eusebio Caceres made the first move of the final round, reaching 8.18m to take sole possession of bronze position. Harrison couldn't respond but Tentoglou did, producing what turned out to be the winning leap.
Before the jump, Tentoglou, who arrived in Tokyo as the world leader with 8.60m, told himself, &ldquo;&rsquo;Just do what you can do&rsquo;. I always have something left, something in reserve.&rdquo;
"It's not what I expected, but still it's a very welcome prize,&rdquo; said Echevarria, who jumped 8.50m in the qualifying round. &ldquo;It was a spectacular competition &ndash; I hope everyone enjoyed it."
Echevarria acknowledged that he was competing with heavy pain, but added, "I&rsquo;m going to recover and see if I can still compete this year.&rdquo;
Harrison finished fifth to end his busy week as the first man to contest the high jump and long jump finals at the same Olympics since 1948.
Yuki Hashioka, the world U20 champion who flew to an 8.36m PB in June, jumped 8.10m in the final round, his only leap beyond eight metres, to finish sixth, two centimetres better than Thobias Montler of Sweden.
World champion Tajay Gayle of Jamaica, who suffered a strain of his medial collateral ligament in the qualifying round, fought through the injury to qualify for the final, which coincided today with his 24th birthday. But he was in visible pain throughout, limping out of the pit after each of his jumps. After a pair of fouls, he did manage one measured leap, a 7.69m effort that left him in 11th place.
Bob Ramsak for World Athletics
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: #ffffff; border-style: solid;" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
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<td style="background-color: #fd5249; text-align: center;" colspan="3">MEN'S LONG JUMP MEDALLISTS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #e9c968; text-align: center;">🥇</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #e9c968;">Miltiadis Tentoglou 🇬🇷 GRE</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #e9c968;">8.41m (0.1m/s)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #ced4d9; text-align: center;">🥈</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #ced4d9;">Juan Miguel Echevarria 🇨🇺 CUB</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #ced4d9;">8.41m (0.2m/s)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #bd895e; text-align: center;">🥉</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #bd895e;">Maykel Masso 🇨🇺 CUB</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #bd895e;">8.21m (0.4m/s)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #34495e; text-align: left;" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/results/men/long-jump/final/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;

Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece saved his best for last

Tentoglou grabs long jump gold with last-round leap

<h2>Men's long jump</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;countryCode=&amp;disciplineCode=LJ&amp;sexCode=M&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/men/long-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/long-jump/men?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/jumps/long-jump/outdoor/men/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/jumps/long-jump/outdoor/men/senior?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/long-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Based on 2021 form, the men's long jump looks to be one of the most wide open competitions on the Tokyo athletics programme. It will also be among the most watched, given the unique ambitions that have propelled US jumping sensation JuVaughn Harrison on to centre stage.
The 22-year-old has made a habit of successfully doubling in the high jump and long jump this year, winning both titles at the Southeastern Conference indoor championships, the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships and, incredibly, at the US Olympic Trials last month where he topped 2.33m in the high jump and sailed a lifetime best of 8.47m in the long jump. That made him the first US athlete to qualify for both events since the legendary Jim Thorpe in 1912.
So, Harrison figures, why stop there?
He'll kick off a busy four days with high jump qualifying on Friday morning (30), will return to action in the long jump qualifying on Saturday evening (31), back again for the high jump final on Sunday night (1) before concluding with the long jump final 15 hours and 10 minutes later on Monday morning (2).
His medal prospects in both events are good, but especially in the long jump where his winning mark from the US Trials is the second farthest of the year. Harrison also has an 8.44m leap from earlier in the season to back that up along with an 8.45m leap indoors which catapulted him into the No.8 spot indoors all-time. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60f941306c17c18127289d1d.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" />
 The only man to jump farther thus far this season is Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, the reigning European champion who sailed 8.60m at a domestic competition in late May. That leap smashed his previous PB set last year by 28 centimetres. Indoors he managed an 8.35m leap, just three centimetres shy of his lifetime best, to successfully defend his European indoor crown. He jumped 8.24m to win in Monaco on 9 July, his final pre-Tokyo competition.
We can also expect Cuban star Juan Miguel Echevarria in the chase. The 22-year-old has electrified the event since his breakout in 2018 when he won the world indoor title and flew to a wind-aided 8.83m leap in Stockholm which forced organisers to make the landing pit longer for the 2019 edition. He arrived in Doha as the favourite for the world title that year and responded to the pressure reasonably well, taking bronze in a fiercely fought competition.
That title went to rising Jamaican star Tajay Gayle who unleashed an 8.69m leap in the fourth round to steal the victory, smashing his PB by 37 centimetres in the process. He hasn't jumped nearly as far in 2021 (8.29m SB) but has managed victories in Stockholm (8.55m/+2.3m/s) and at the Jamaican championships.
A sixth place finish at the notoriously difficult US trials means that reigning Olympic champion and 2019 world silver medallist Jeffery Henderson won't be defending his title, but Harrison will be joined by Marquis Dendy (8.35m SB, 8.42m PB), the 2016 world indoor champion, and Steffin McCarter (8.26m SB, PB), who should both figure in the medal hunt.
Echevarria will be joined by Maykel Mass&oacute;, also 22, a former world U18 and U20 champion who improved to 8.39m this year. Gayle, meanwhile, will be joined by Carey McLeod, a student at the University of Tennessee who jumped a lifetime best of 8.34m to beat Harrison at the SEC outdoor championships in May.
Host nation hopes lie with Yuki Hashioka, the 2018 world U20 champion who has been improving steadily since. The 22-year-old flew to the national title in June with an 8.36m effort, a lifetime best which landed him at No.7 on the 2021 world list.
Bob Ramsak for World Athletics
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<h2>Women's long jump</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;disciplineCode=LJ&amp;sexCode=W&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/men/long-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/long-jump/women?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/jumps/long-jump/outdoor/women/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/jumps/long-jump/outdoor/women/senior?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a> |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/long-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Opportunity knocks in the women&rsquo;s long jump for whoever can produce their best performance on the day in Tokyo&rsquo;s Olympic stadium.
This Olympic season has thrown up a bunch of medal contenders but none has established dominance so far.
There are six women with legal jumps over the still-impressive barrier of seven metres this year, five of whom will be in the field in Tokyo.
Nigeria&rsquo;s Ese Brume, bronze medallist at the World Athletics Championships in Doha in 2019, has the biggest jump of the year with 7.17m, from American Tara Davis (7.14m) and the ageless 2012 Olympic champion Brittney Reese, who leapt 7.13m to win at the US Olympic Trials last month. 
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 The reigning world champion Malaika Mihambo has not yet found the form that carried her to that title in Doha in 2019 and currently stands in 10th place on the list of top performers (6.92m).
However, she did register a wind-assisted 7.02m at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Stockholm earlier this month which suggests she is finding her rhythm.
The Diamond League has produced three different winners from the four women&rsquo;s long jump competitions held to date this year.
Germany&rsquo;s Mihambo triumphed in Oslo, Doha silver medallist Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk was the most recent winner in Gateshead, while Serbian veteran Ivana Spanovic took wins in Florence and Stockholm. However these events were conducted under the experimental &ldquo;Final Three&rdquo; format, whereas the Olympic competition will revert to the traditional six-jump final.
All of which makes it a very unpredictable event this year.
In the absence of the 2016 Olympic champion Tianna Bartoletta, 34-year-old Rio silver medallist Reese is the best credentialed woman in the field with four world titles to her name between 2009 and 2017.
She has not competed outside the US this year, but has registered seven-metre-plus jumps at three different competitions and is still performing to the highest standard in her 14th year at the top of the game.
Meanwhile, her 22-year-old teammate Davis is just setting out on her journey as a professional athlete. The effervescent Davis won the NCAA title this year and then leapt 7.04m to finish second at the US Olympic Trials and earn her place on the Olympic team.
Outstanding college athletes sometimes find the Olympic journey a step too far after a long NCAA season and it remains to be seen if Davis can maintain, or improve on, the standard she set in the first half of the year.
Brume popped out a huge jump in California in May but has struggled to reproduce that form more recently, while Ukraine&rsquo;s Bekh-Romanchuk is admirably consistent just under the seven-metre mark but has yet to show she can jump big enough to win a major title.
Mihambo has not approached the massive 7.30m jump she performed to clinch the world title in 2019 but then neither has anyone else. If she can uncork that magic in the Olympic arena the gold medal will almost certainly be hers. If not then there could be plenty of contenders eyeing the medals.
Nicole Jeffery for World Athletics

Expected highlights in the men's and women's long jump.