Report07 Jul 2011


Boys’ Long Jump Final - Lin dominates to grab China's second gold in two days

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Qing Lin of China wins the boys' long jump final in Lille (© Getty Images)

China grabbed its second gold medal of the Championships on day two here in Lille as Qing Lin set a new personal best 7.83 to clinch the Boys’ Long Jump title. Lin’s performance is the second best performance in the history of the championships behind 2005 winner Chris Noffke’s wind-assisted 7.97.


Interestingly, Lin is the second Chinese and fifth Asian winner of this event at the World Youth Championships with the other 2 winners coming from Australia (Noffke) and Brazil. There has never been a European or American champion in the World Youth Boys Long jump!


"I was looking forward to coming for today's competition," said Lin. "I'm confident in myself to be the top 1 and I came just for that! I was a little nervous at the beginning because I was afraid to break the rules but I became more relaxed later and got 7.83 metres which renewed my personal best. I am excited to compete in foreign countries and I'm happy about my performance today!"


Jumping seventh, Lin opened with 7.16 to trail in eighth position after round 1 saw the Swedish pair of Johan Taleus and Simon Karlen take a temporary lead with 7.36 and 7.29 respectively ahead of Panama’s Juan Mosquera at 7.28.


The second round shook all the top position as seven of tonight’s finalist managed their best jump in this round. The first athlete to make an impact at the top was Russia’s Semen Popov whose 7.39 put him in gold medal position, one he wouldn’t hold for long as jumping next Taleus extended his lead to 7.44.


Next on the runway was Lin whose effort was measured to a massive 7.83, he snatched gold from Taleus with Popov back down into bronze medal position. Germany’s Stephan Hartmann and Mosquera were the next to jump and they respectively improved to 7.32 (eventual seventh place) and 7.34 (eventual sixth).


Concluding the second round, Italy’s Stefano Braga made the most of the tailwind (+3.0m/s) to improve to 7.42 and seize the bronze medal position. Popov was thrown off the podium and as it turned out would not manage to improve in any of his next four jumps.


As conditions worsen, only one jumper made an improvement: Karlen added 5 centimetres to his season’s best landing to 7.34 but had to be content with fifth place tonight.


Eventually Lin had almost 40 centimetres to spare over Taleus (silver) and Braga (bronze), the second biggest winning margin in the history of this competition.


Laura Arcoleo for the IAAF


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