The men's triple jump competition is wide open in 2009. We'll start by introducing you to the current king of the triple jump, Portugal's Nelson Évora, the reigning Olympic and world champion. If you're like us and have no idea who he is, he is the guy to the right doing a mid-flight yoga pose you probably should not try at home.
Évora has followed up his 2007 and 2008 success by posting the year's top mark in 2009, but he is far from the overwhelming favorite. His best jumps, like many of the top contenders, came in April and May, and his form in August is an unknown.
Among his competitors, two are particularly well known in the Western world. Great Britain's Phillips Idowu is always easy to spot with dyed hair, multiple piercings and tattoos. He backs up his wild permanent body accessories with legitimate "ice" such as the 2008 Olympic silver medal. Though he is fairly inconsistent, Idowu should definitely make the final. His talk of breaking Jonathan Edwards' world record of 18.29m is a little outlandish considering he rarely
is within a meter of the mark.
Sweden's Christian Olsson reappeared a few weeks ago with a good jump in Sweden. The 2004 Olympic champion was one of Sweden's few medal hopes* in 2009, but withdrew after winning the Swedish trials in Malmö, saying his body just wasn't ready for Worlds.
*Side Note: The story of Swedish track athletes in the last year or so is depressing. Heptathlon world record holder Carolina Kluft's body is shot. She can't even long jump without sustaining serious injury. Stefan Holm, one of the world's greatest-ever high jumpers, retired. Olsson can't get healthy. Mustafa Mohamed (what a Swedish name)crashed into a barrier in Stockholm's only big meet. Johan Wissman, 400m finalist in Osaka, can't
get it into high gear. And their cute, super-fast hurdler Susanna Kallur is all but out of the sport.
Back to the triple jump. A trio of jumpers from Cuba certainly deserve mention as favorites. Yoandris Betanzos, Arnie David Girat, and Alexis Copello held down the fort at the top of the world performance standings for quite a while. There best marks come, not surprisingly, from their meets in Cuba. Can they duplicate those performances on a bigger stage? Time will tell.
LRC Predictions: Gold: Nelson Évora POR Silver: Phillips Idowu GBR Bronze: Arnie David Girat CUB 4th: Leevan Sands BAH
Men's Triple Jump Statistics By LRC Coaching Guru John Kellogg
17.66 Nelson Évora (POR) PR 17.74 (2007) Gold medal in 2008 Olympic Games, gold medal in 2007 World Championships, bronze medal in 2008 World Indoor Championships, 6th in 2006 World Indoor Championships
17.65 Yoandris Betanzos (CUB) Silver medal in 2005 World Championships, silver medal in 2003 World Championships, bronze medal in 2006 World Indoor Championships, bronze medal in 2004 World Indoor Championships, 4th in 2004 Olympic Games
17.65 Alexis Copello (CUB)
17.62 Arnie David Girat (CUB) Silver medal in 2008 World Indoor Championships, 4th in 2008 Olympic Games, 4th in 2003 World Championships, 7th in 2007 World Championships, 8th in 2005 World Championships
17.60 Phillips Idowu (GBR) PR 17.75i (2008) Gold medal in 2008 World Indoor Championships, silver medal in 2008 Olympic Games, gold medal in 2006 Commonwealth Games, silver medal in 2002 Commonwealth Games, 6th in 2007 World Championships, 6th in 2000 Olympic Games, 9th in 2001 World Championships
17.41 Momchil Karailiev (BUL) 9th in 2006 World Indoor Championships, 11th in 2008 Olympic Games, 11th in 2005 World Championships
17.39(A) Samyr Laine (HAI)
17.27 Fabrizio Schembri (ITA)
17.26 Brandon Roulhac (USA)
17.24 Christian Olsson (SWE)+ PR 17.83i (2004) Gold medal in 2004 Olympic Games, gold medal in 2004 World Indoor Championships, gold medal in 2003 World Championships, gold medal in 2003 World Indoor Championships, silver medal in 2001 World Championships, bronze medal in 2002 World Cup
17.22 Igor Spasovkhodskiy (RUS) PR 17.44 (2001) Bronze medal in 2001 World Championships, 5th in 2006 World Indoor Championships, 9th in 2008 Olympic Games
17.20 Osniel Tosca (CUB) PR 17.52 (2007) 4th in 2007 World Championships, 6th in 2008 World Indoor Championships
17.14 Leevan Sands (BAH) PR 17.59 (2008) Bronze medal in 2008 Olympic Games, bronze medal in 2003 World Championships, bronze medal in 2002 Commonwealth Games, 4th in 2005 World Championships
17.12 Jadel Gregório (Bra) PR 17.90 (= #6 all-time) (2007) Silver medal in 2007 World Championships, silver medal in 2006 World Indoor Championships, silver medal in 2004 World Indoor Championships, silver medal in 2006 World Cup, 5th in 2004 Olympic Games, 5th in 2003 World Championships, 6th in 2008 Olympic Games, 6th in 2005 World Championships, 6th in 2003 World Indoor Championships, 5th in 2002 World Cup
16.84 Walter Davis (USA) PR 17.73i (#6 all-time USA) (2006) Gold medal in 2005 World Championships, gold medal in 2006 World Indoor Championships, silver medal in 2003 World Indoor Championships, bronze medal in 2007 World Championships, gold medal in 2006 World Cup, silver medal in 2002 World Cup, 5th in 2001 World Championships, 11th in 2004 Olympic Games, 11th in 2000 Olympic Games
16.28 James Jenkins (USA)
