While many in Doha anticipated the coronation of rising long jump star Juan Miguel Echevarria here in Doha, it was instead Tajay Gayle who beat him to the punch courtesy of a stunning Jamaican record of 8.69m – the longest wind-legal leap in the world for ten years.

The five-meeting IAAF World Indoor Tour culminates on Saturday (18) with the Muller Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham, where athletes will be battling for a wildcard to enable them to return to the British city for next year’s IAAF World Indoor Championships.

Olympic long jump champion Jeff Henderson will face a tough test at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham on 18 February, the final stop of the 2017 IAAF World Indoor Tour.

As our 2016 year-end review series continues, statisticians A Lennart Julin and Mirko Jalava look back on the best jumps performances of the year.

At the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015, four-time world long jump champion Dwight Phillips predicted that Jeff Henderson was ready to be anointed as the latest champion.

The second day of athletics events at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games provided a range of superb competitions which included Mo Farah’s title defence in the 10,000m, a last-round win in the men’s long jump and discus, and new champions crowned in the women’s 100m and heptathlon.

US champion Jeff Henderson moved up to being a global champion when his last-round effort of 8.38m sufficed for the gold medal after an enthralling competition which saw the lead change hand four times after the opening round.

Americans usually celebrate with fireworks on 4 July, their Independence Day. In Eugene on Sunday (3), the fireworks came a day early.

USA’s 2015 world leader Jeffrey Henderson and Australia’s world silver medallist Fabrice Lapierre will face a quartet of home-grown talent in the long jump at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Shanghai on 14 May.

Jeffrey Henderson produced a world-leading 8.52m in the long jump while Melissa Bishop and Andre de Grasse bagged more gold medals for hosts Canada on Wednesday (22) at the Pan American Games in Toronto’s York University stadium.

Jenna Prandini may be the indoor and outdoor NCAA champion in the long jump, but the University of Oregon student is fast making a name for herself as a sprinter.

Forced to curtail his season prematurely due to a painfully bruised left heel, and passing up a chance to have a tilt at taking the Diamond Race in Brussels this Friday as well as represent the Americas at the IAAF Continental Cup later this month, Jeff Henderson can still reflect with pride on an outstanding year.