The IAAF World Cup offered one of this year’s rare occasions to admire male long jumpers on European soil.
All eyes were fixed on World Champion Ivan Pedroso (Cuba) and World silver medallist Savanté Stringfellow (USA) for what was expected to be a big clash. The local fans were also hoping for a great performance from 1999 World Silver medallist Yago Lamela.
This time the result would read: 1. Stringfellow , 2. Pedroso, 3. Lamela
An excellent competition and amazing consistency confirmed the breakthrough of Stringfellow as the next top long jumper. This year’s World leader Stringfellow opened his series with 8.04m. 'Superman' Stringfellow followed with 8.20m, 8.21m and 8.20m again.
The American’s victory was threatened with each of Pedroso’s attempts – two of which were fouls – the best of which was just 2 centimetres short of Stringfellow’s performance.
Pedroso secured 8 points for the Americas team while Lamela finished third with 8.11m.