Manyonga surprises his coach with his big jump in Brussels
Luvo Manyonga landed just two centimetres short of the national record in the long jump with his winning jump this weekend at a Diamond League Meeting in Brussels.
The Olympic medallist, Luvo Manyonga, made sure that he left his coach at a loss for words this weekend in Brussels when he jumped 8.48 metres to record his first victory in a Diamond League Meeting.
According to Neil Cornelius (Tuks/HPC coach), Manyonga’s massive jump first left him speechless and afterwards he battled to fall asleep because of all the excitement.
Coach and athlete had just reason to be on an adrenaline rush. The 8.48 metre jump is the second best attempt in the history of South African long jumping. Only Khotso Mokoena, who set a new South African record by jumping 8.50 metres in 2009, has gone farther.
This year (2016) Jeff Henderson (USA), Olympic champion, is the only athlete who was able to outdo the Tuks/HPC athlete. His best recorded jump for the season is 8.59 metres.
It is also interesting to note that Manyonga has improved his best distance this season by 22 centimetres. Before his comeback at the beginning of the year his best distance was 8.26m.
Manyonga was very consistent in Brussels. He started his campaign by jumping 8.24m, then 8.26m and 8.28m before ‘sky-rocketing’ to 8.48m.
Fabrice Lapierre (Australia) was second with a best attempt of 8.17m and Jarrion Lawson (USA) third with a jump of 8.04m.
“I was already excited when Luvo jumped 8.28 metres with his second attempt. To be quite honest, I never expected him to jump farther than 8.40 metres. We have hardly been able to do any proper training after he won the silver medal at the Olympic Games in Rio because he was kept so busy doing media interviews,” said the Cornelius.
“Actually I should not be surprised about what happened in Brussels because I have said in a media interview that I am not prepared to make any predictions about how far I think Luvo can jump. If I did that, I might restrict him.
“I can honestly say that Luvo is not even close to reaching his full potential. It is a given that he will jump farther. How much farther I honestly don’t know, but I will not be surprised if he becomes the first athlete to go beyond nine metres.
“After last night’s competition I received a text from Luvo saying that he was surprised at how easy it felt to jump 8.48 metres. It felt perfectly normal to him, like an effortless attempt.”
During the Olympic Games Manyonga’s technique has been described as one of the most natural. Cornelius agrees.
“I have never seen an athlete who is able to execute his take-off to such perfection. It is one of the reasons why he is such a competitive athlete. When I work with younger athletes I tell them to watch Manyonga doing his take-off.”
As to their plans for next year, Cornelius said they will work towards ensuring that Manyonga gets stronger and faster. There are also a few small hitches in his technique that need to be sorted out.
Just as a matter of interest. The world long jump record was set in 1991 in Tokyo when Mike Powell jumped 8.95 metres.
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