Ashton Eaton in the men's Decathlon Long Jump runway at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Moscow 2013 (© Getty Images)
After a great start in the Decathlon 100m, gold medal favourite Ashton Eaton suffered a minor setback in the second event, the Long Jump.
His third jump of 7.73m is far from a disaster, but it still was some way off his results beyond eight metres in his earlier top Decathlons. The 25-year-old still has a clear lead with 2003 points after two events, but he can’t afford to lose similar amounts of points in the rest of the first day’s events.
A few of the top athletes were in trouble in the Long Jump and some didn’t get a good enough result in the end. Some, however, were in their best form and these included 26-year-old German Michael Schrader, who followed a good 100m opener with a 7.85m season’s best in the Long Jump and is now in the second place in total points with a score of 1944.
The surprise name in the second event was USA’s Gunnar Nixon, who smashed his personal best with a 7.80m jump, adding 18cm to his previous mark from the US Championships Decathlon. Nixon is now in third place with 1907.
Canadian Damian Warner was slightly adrift of his London Olympics series in the Long Jump. The 23-year-old reached 7.39m, just one centimetre from his season’s best, and has 1900 points for the fourth place after two events.
Serbian Mihail Dudas jumped 7.51m and has 1872 points for fifth place, while reigning champion Trey Hardee is sixth with 1868 after a 7.35m season’s best in the Long Jump. The US athlete still has a medal in his sight, although this was the shortest Long Jump result at a major championships during his career.
Eelco Sintnicolaas of the Netherlands jumped an outdoor personal best of 7.65m, which also equals his indoor best. The European indoor champion is seventh with 1866, followed by Brazilian Carlos Chinin, who was at his best jumping 7.54m in the Long Jump, only one centimetre less than in his 8393 South American record series.
German Rico Freimuth had a disappointing Long Jump as he only managed 7.22m and his hopes for a medal were thrashed with this result. Only in 19th place after two events is Cuban Leonel Suarez, but his 7.33m Long Jump performance was actually quite decent for him and his quest for a fifth successive medal in global championships is still on track.
Mirko Jalava for the IAAF
