Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas (© AFP / Getty Images)
Yulimar Rojas produced the second farthest triple jump of all time at the Memorial Francisco Ramon Higueras in Andujar, Spain, on Friday (6).
Rojas, the world champion outdoors and indoors, sailed 15.41m (1.5m/s) in the competition's sixth round to land just nine centimetres shy of the 15.50m world record set by Inessa Kravets at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, two months before Rojas was born.
After back-to-back fouls in the opening two rounds, Rojas bounded to a solid 15.03m (0.3m/s) leap in the third round, marking the fourth competition the Venezuelan has bound beyond the 15-metre line this season.
#6Sep La atleta venezolana, Yulimar Rojas, alcazó la segunda mejor marca de la historia en triple salto femenino con un registro de 15,41 metros, en su sexto y último intento en el Meeting de Atletismo en Andújar. Video cortesía. #TVVNoticias #TVVenezuela pic.twitter.com/OtQjOJymWw
— TVVenezuela Noticias (@TVVnoticias) September 6, 2019
She followed up with a 14.53m leap in the fourth round and passed on her fifth before her big jump in the last round.
The leap added 30 centimetres to Rojas's previous best of 15.11m set at the Pan-American Games last month, and broke Caterine Ibarguen's South American record of 15.31 set by the Colombian in Monaco in 2014.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
