Christian Olsson of Sweden the World and European champion showed just why he has so easily slipped into the spikes of Jonathan Edwards, the World record holder who retired after the Paris World Championships.
When Michael Johnson stepped away from the 200m and 400m in 2001 an immediate void opened up at the top end of these two events which arguably still has not been filled. By contrast, Olsson’s inheritance of Edwards’ mantle as king of the Triple Jump has been seamless, as shown by today’s dominant showing of three 17m jumps (passed the last of his four attempts).
With a 17.09 in round one, rising to a best of 17.55m with his second attempt, and then a 17.48m to close, Olsson’s series demoralised the opposition who could only muster one 17 metre performance between them in response – a sixth round 17.09m leap by Walter Davis of the USA.
There was statistically little of merit below Olsson’s series and Davis’s last attempt to talk about today, but that did not damage the event, as the spectators were delighted by a vintage performance by the 23 year-old Swede.
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