Ruswahl Samaai sails to victory in the Continental Cup long jump (© Getty Images)
African champion Ruswahl Samaai was the well-deserved winner of the men's long jump competition at the IAAF Continental Cup. The South African came out on top at the preliminary, semifinal and final stages and had the four longest jumps of the day, with a best of 8.16m.
European champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece was the last to challenge Samaai and ended the competition in second place after losing the final rounds. Following in the order were the Olympic champion Jeff Henderson of the US and Henry Frayne of Australia.
Samaai had the best start to the competition, being the only man to reach the eight-metre barrier in the initial phase of the competition, and doing so twice, with 8.05m and 8.16m in the first two rounds.
Henderson was the best of the rest after three rounds with 7.98m, closely followed by Frayne at 7.96m and Tentoglou, who started with two fouled attempts, but then reached 7.95m. The battle for a place in the top four was especially close between the two Asia-Pacific team representatives, as Wang Jianan missed out by a mere centimetre.
The fourth round of jumping was a closely fought battle. Frayne, going first, reached 7.89m, Tentoglou followed with his best jump of the day at 8.00m. Henderson did not have the best of landings, but moved into second with 7.90m, only to see himself eliminated out of the final round by Samaai's 8.09m.
It was a similar story in the final round. The Greek reached a solid 7.92m, but Samaai, following him, flew out to 8.10m.
The long jump provided for an interesting story in the team standings, as all four teams tied for first place to earn five points each.
Pawel Jackowski for the IAAF
