Fabrice Lapierre of Australia celebrates gold in the Long Jump final (© Getty Images)
It was far from a vintage competition but gold medal winner Fabrice Lapierre will not care one jot.
A little over an hour after Steve Hooker landed the Pole Vault title here in the Aspire Dome Lapierre added a second gold medal of the night for Australia with an 8.17m leap - the second shortest winning distance at a World Indoor Championships (if we discount the 1985 World Indoor Games).
To bolster Australia's powerful showing Mitchell Watt, the world outdoor bronze winner in Berlin last year, added the same colour medal thanks to an 8.05m sixth round leap.
Sandwiching the Australian duo was defending champion Godfrey Mokoena, of South Africa, who was far from his best but an 8.08m effort with his last jump earned silver.
Lapierre was born on the island of Mauritius and moved to Australia when he was two and there was doubt he was the class of the competition. He headed the qualifiers with 8.19m and once he was the first man to jump beyond the 8.00m mark in round three he proved unstoppable.
"My jump was not that great, but good enough for gold," added the US-based athlete, who must surely put more height on his leaps than any other long jumper in the world. "It means a lot to win here. It builds my confidence and now I look forward to the summer season. I want to do the Commonwealth Games and a good Diamond League."
Mokoena admitted he picking up an injury at the end of January, so was satisfied with a medal in his first indoor competition of the year.
"To come from 4th to 2nd on the last attempt is quite an achievement and a medal is a medal," said the South Africa, who won World outdoor silver in Berlin last year. "It is still better for my country to have one medal than zero."
Watt also said he felt pain in his groin after his first attempt but was satisfied with another major championship medal.
"The competition was very exciting and I never had to fight for a medal with my last attempt. I was joking with Fabrice last night we are going to take first and second for Australia, but this is also perfect."
Four fouls were committed from the eight finalists in a sluggish opening round and the four legal jumps registered were 'modest.'
Mokoena and German champion Christain Reif shared the lead after 7.86m leaps in the opening stanza.
Round two was scarcely any better, although we did have the quirk of two different men from the first round now in a tie for the lead, as both Salim Sdiri of France and Watt pierced the sand at 7.93m. The pair had committed first round fouls so were joint leaders.
Lapierre was struggling in the early rounds. Two successive fouls had put him under pressure, but he gave the competition some semblance of respectability by leaping 8.01m to occupy the gold medal position with his third effort.
At halfway it was Lapierre in front with Sdiri edging ahead of Watt into the silver medal position, courtesy of a superior second best jump of 7.87m.
Reversing the top eight for the final three jumps seemed to have a positive impact on the overall quality as Sdiri reclaimed the lead in round four with 8.01m - at that point with a superior second round jump to Lapierre.
However, the Aussie responded immediatedly to the challenge, leaping 8.09m despite taking off with inches to spare behind the board.
The only significant move in round five was taken by the leader who extended his lead further with 8.17m to tighten his grip on the gold medal.
There was a sting in the tail, however, in the last round, at least in the fight for the minor medals. The defending champion Mokoena finally found somewhere near his best form to catapult from fourth (7.90m) into the silver medal position with his 8.08m.
However, the lead did not last long as Watt, who had slipped out of the medals into fourth following the South African's jump, bumped back up into bronze with 8.05m - 0.04 in front of Sdiri.
The spotlight was then on the French athlete, but although he registered a decent 7.95m it proved fruitless in his quest for medals and he had to settle for fourth.
Reif wound up fifth with 7.86m and Senegal's Ndiss Kaba Badji finished sixth with the same distance.
Lapierre could then enjoy his final jump knowing he was already crowned a world indoor champion. He fouled. He didn't care. He was champion. The sixth Australian to strike gold at a World Indoor Championships and the second in the session.
Steve Landells for the IAAF
