Miltiadis Tentoglou Wins Tiebreaker To Claim Indoor Gold Medal, Says He Will Switch Events If Proposed Changes Are Enacted

By David Woods for DyeStat

Kim Spir PHOTOS

INTERVIEWS

GLASGOW, Scotland – If long jumpers were Sebastian Coe’s sole constituency, he would be out as president of World Athletics.

Jumpers at the World Athletics Indoor Championships emphatically rejected a proposal to change rules so distances would be measured from a jump zone rather than the conventional takeoff board. The intention is to reduce or eliminate foul jumps.

“If that happens, I will not do long jump anymore,” Miltiadis Tentoglou said. “I will be a triple jumper.”

The 25-year-old Greek has won four global gold medals, including a repeat victory Saturday. The three medalists were separated by one centimeter.

Tentoglou jumped 26 feet, 11.75 inches (8.22m) but only won because of a better secondary mark. Italy’s Mattia Furlani, 19, became the youngest medalist in this event at indoor Worlds, also at 26-11.75 (8.22m).

Jamaica’s Carey McLeod was third at 26-11.25 (8.21m). He became the third Arkansas Razorback to capture long jump bronze at indoor Worlds, joining Erick Walder (1995, 1999) and Mike Conley (1989).

Jarrion Lawson, bidding to return to a World podium for the first time since 2017, was in bronze position until the fifth round. He finished fifth at 26-5.50 (8.06m).

Tentoglou complained he “jumped terrible” but reserved sharpest commentary for the rule proposal. He said World Athletics doesn’t respect athletes and even though he is Olympic champion, his opinion doesn’t matter.

“I consider long jump to be one of the hardest events because of the board and the accuracy you need,” he said. “You need to run like a sprinter, to hit the board perfectly. This is the difficult part of the long jump.

“The jump itself is easy. The hard part is the run-up. So, if they want to remove this, the long jump would be the easiest event.”

At a news conference Thursday, Coe said World Athletics would be guided by what the athletes think. If he didn’t know what they think before, he does now.

But Coe added:

“We’re not going to back off of innovation here.”

Carl Lewis, the four-time Olympic gold medalist in the long jump, has been critical of the proposal. On Twitter, he posted:

“When anyone wants to jump over something, you always have a reference point to take off from. If they had any clue about the event, they would see that the foul rate is similar to our era. We just jumped farther.”

Another American, Will Williams, finished seventh in Glasgow. He, too, votes no on the zone.

“We take a lot of pride in our skill, as well as the greats: Carl Lewis, Mike Powell, my coach and mentor, Dwight Phillips,” Williams said.

Remove the board, McLeod said, and long jump ceases to be a technical event. He said the rules are “perfect” as they are. Lawson, silver medalist at the 2017 outdoor Worlds, said likewise.

“Part of long jumping is getting an approach, making sure it’s ironed out, getting your foot on the board,” Lawson said. “If you scratch, well, you just have to go again and try to get on the board.”

As for the long jumpers, they are not on board with World Athletics.

Hoppel going for gold in 800

Three 800-meter races in three days? Sounds good to Bryce Hoppel.

“I’ll be able to come back,” he said. “I don’t know about the other guys.”

Hoppel won Saturday’s second semifinal in 1:45.08, same as second-place Elliott Crestan of Belgium, to qualify for Sunday’s final. Both nearly matched this year’s world-leading time of 1:45.00 by Italy's Catalin Tecuceanu. 

Spain’s Mariano Garcia won the first semifinal in 1:47.83 over Tecuceanu. At 2022 indoor Worlds, Garcia won gold and Hoppel bronze.

Hoppel asserted he is more fit than ever, having trained with miler Hobbs Kessler at altitude in Flagstaff, Ariz.

The other American entry, Isaiah Harris, was overtaken in the stretch and was a non-qualifying fourth in the first semi in 1:48.14.

In the women’s 800, native Scot Jemma Reekie won the second semifinal over Ethiopia’s Habitam Alemu, 1:58.28 to 1:58.59. Alemu is the world leader at 1:57.86.

Elsewhere, world record-holder and defending champion Grant Holloway had the top time in heats of the 60 hurdles, 7.43. Semifinals and final are Saturday night.

In heats of the 60 meters, Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia and Ewa Swoboda both clocked 7.02. Next at 7.07 was Aleia Hobbs, who said afterward she overslept and had to be awakened by a teammate to make it to the track on time.

The only U.S. entry in the heptathlon, Harrison Williams, was sixth in the opening 60 meters in 6.95 and then dropped out.

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007