Luvo Manyonga sails to victory in London (© Mark Shearman)
World champion Luvo Manyonga of South Africa and world indoor champion Juan Miguel Echevarría of Cuba will head the field in the men's long jump at the Müller Anniversary Games, the tenth stop of the 2019 IAAF Diamond League, in London on 20 July.
At the 2018 IAAF Diamond League meeting in Stockholm, Echevarría stunned the world by nearly jumping the full length of the pit with a marginally wind-assisted 8.83m (2.1m/s) leap – the longest jump under any conditions in the world for some 23 years.
While the two are virtually inseparable on paper - Echevarría's career best is 8.68m, Manyonga's 8.66m - the Cuban has quickly pieced together a 7-3 advantage lifetime over the South African. This season, Manyonga has jumped 8.35m and Echevarría 8.34m.
While the discipline is not part of the points chase in London this year, organisers have nonetheless attracted a strong field which includes Manyonga's South African compatriot Ruswahl Samaai, the reigning African champion, and Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, the current European champion both indoors and out.
Also in the line-up are Commonwealth silver medallist Henry Frayne of Australia, South Africa's 2014 Commonwealth silver medallist Zarck Visser and Jamaican rising star Tajay Gayle.
Organisers for the IAAF
