Caterine Ibarguen completing her Continental Cup jump double (© Getty Images)
Caterine Ibarguen emulated her feat from the recent IAAF Diamond League final, adding a win in the long jump to the victory she achieved in the triple jump a day earlier. Second in the preliminary round, the Colombian kept her composure brilliantly to achieve the best distance of the day with a 6.93m national record leap with her final attempt, overcoming Brooke Stratton from Australia.
Ibarguen started the competition solidly with 6.68m and 6.76m in the first two rounds. That proved easily good enough to qualify her for further jumps, although it was not the best in that phase of the competition, as the European champion Malaika Mihambo of Germany reached 6.86m in the second round
The Nigerian Ese Brume also made the top four with her 6.61m, just one centimetre ahead of her African teammate Marthe Koala from Burkina Faso. The last qualifier was Stratton with 6.58m.
Going second in the fourth round, the Australian had a much better attempt of 6.71m. Mihambo, next in the order, was unable to match her earlier attempts with 6.58m. The German's hopes of a win were dashed when Ibarguen followed with 6.85m. The German was assured the third place after Brume could only reach 5.90m.
In an interview before the start of the Continental Cup, Ibarguen stated she was nervous about the new rules in field events, requiring a great deal of mental strength. But she proved she had plenty of it today. In the final round she followed Stratton's 6.52m with a perfectly executed jump of 6.93m. That mark added six centimetres to the national record she had set earlier in the season.
“I'm full of ambition and it makes no difference in which event I compete. The key is to win each and every competition,” Ibarguen said after her victory. “It was even more important to win here, because our team only had a slight advantage in the team standings.”
Pawel Jackowski for the IAAF
