PREMIUM!
Cuban teenager trumps Luvo Manyonga with a beast of a jump
Though the wind assisted him greatly, Juan Miguel Echevarria is rapidly emerging as South Africa's long jump kingpin's big rival.
Luvo Manyonga of South Africa competes during the long jump event of the IAAF Diamond League 2018 meeting at Stockholm Olympic Stadium in Stockholm, Sweden, on June 10, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / TT News Agency / Christine Olsson / Sweden OUT
Cuban teenage star Juan Miguel Echevarria won the long jump at the Stockholm Diamond League meet on Sunday with a monstrous wind assisted 8.83-metres.
In front of a 15,000 crowd in the Olympic stadium, the world indoor champion produced his stunning leap on his sixth and final effort to come just 12-centimetres short of American Mike Powell’s 8.95m world record.
Despite the excessive tail wind meaning the jump won’t last in the record books, it brought gasps from the crowd and demonstrated the incredible potential of this 19-year-old, who is now reaching distances not seen in international long jump competitions for a decade.
World number one Luvo Manyonga of South Africa — beaten by two centimetres in Birmingham in March for the indoor world title — came a distant third with 8.25m.
American Jeff Henderson was second with 8.39m.
“Today I was aiming for 8.50m but I didn’t think I was capable of jumping so far,” said Echevarria, whose personal best nonetheless remains at 8.53m.
Already, though, Echevarria has big ambitions on his mind.
“I’m not thinking about nine metres. I’ll have to work very hard to achieve that, it’s an enormous barrier.”
