Anastasiya Taranova set a World Leading Junior mark with her first jump of the women’s Triple Jump Final and her clearance of 13.94 was to be the winning mark of the competition despite a beautifully consistent display of jumping from this attractive young Russian.
The European Champion never jumped less than 13.54 (her third round) and she produced two jumps over 13.90 and two over 13.80 in a magnificent demonstration of style and grace.
She became the third Russian World Junior Champion in the Triple Jump, even though her winning distance was nearly thirty centimetres short of her compatriot Anastasiya Ilyina who won in Santiago 2000 and 49 centimetres off the (windy) distance jumped by Yelena Lysak in Lisbon 1994. Indeed, in the 7 editions of the World Juniors since the women’s Triple Jump was introduced in 1992 in Seoul, this was the second shortest winning distance after the inaugural edition, which was won by Germany’s Anja Vokhul with 13.47 metres.
Limei Xie from China took the silver medal with her final legal jump – her fifth – with 13.77 metres and the bronze went to another Russian, Tatyana Yakovleva with 13.67 metres, also produced in the fifth round.
