Mondo Duplantis competes at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (© Getty Images)
As the year draws to a close, we look back at the key moments of 2022 in each area of the sport.
The series continues with a review of the jumping events and will be followed over the coming days by reviews of other event groups.
Women’s high jump
Season top list
| 2.05m | Yaroslava Mahuchikh 🇺🇦 UKR | Brussels | 2 September |
| 2.02m | Eleanor Patterson 🇦🇺 AUS | Eugene | 19 July |
| 2.01m | Mariya Lasitskene ⚪ ANA | Chelyabinsk | 27 August |
| 2.00m | Elena Vallortigara 🇮🇹 ITA | Eugene | 19 July |
| 2.00m | Iryna Gerashchenko 🇺🇦 UKR | Eugene | 19 July |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Yaroslava Mahuchikh 🇺🇦 UKR | 1475 |
| 2 | Eleanor Patterson 🇦🇺 AUS | 1403 |
| 3 | Iryna Gerashchenko 🇺🇦 UKR | 1365 |
| 4 | Nicola Olyslagers 🇦🇺 AUS | 1339 |
| 5 | Elena Vallortigara 🇮🇹 ITA | 1325 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Eleanor Patterson 🇦🇺 AUS | 2.02m =AR |
| 🥈 | Yaroslava Mahuchikh 🇺🇦 UKR | 2.02m |
| 🥉 | Elena Vallortigara 🇮🇹 ITA | 2.00m |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Eleanor Patterson 🇦🇺 AUS 2.02m
World Indoor Championships: Yaroslava Mahuchikh 🇺🇦 UKR 2.02m
African Championships: Rose Amoanimaa Yeboah 🇬🇠GHA 1.79m
European Championships: Yaroslava Mahuchikh 🇺🇦 UKR 1.95m
NACAC Championships: Vashti Cunningham 🇺🇸 USA 1.92m
Oceania Championships: Erin Shaw 🇦🇺 AUS 1.85m
Commonwealth Games: Lamara Distin 🇯🇲 JAM 1.95m
Wanda Diamond League: Yaroslava Mahuchikh 🇺🇦 UKR 2.03m
World U20 Championships: Karmen Bruus 🇪🇪 EST 1.95m
Season at a glance
Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh was determined to jump high for her country in 2022 and she managed to do so, achieving the worlding-leading performance of 2.05m and winning titles at the World Indoor Championships, European Championships and Wanda Diamond League Final as well as silver at the World Championships.
The Olympic bronze medallist cleared two metres or more at seven competitions, starting with the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade where she cleared 2.02m – the best mark of the season – to win her first senior global title ahead of Australia’s Eleanor Patterson. Patterson, who cleared an Oceanian indoor record of 2.00m there, would turn the tables at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, where she equalled the area record with a 2.02m clearance to win her first senior global gold after claiming the world U18 title in 2013.
Like last year, a total of five athletes cleared bars set at two metres or higher during the outdoor season, Mahuchikh and Patterson joined on that list by Mariya Lasitskene, Elena Vallortigara and Iryna Gerashchenko. Next best, on 1.98m, was two-time world, Olympic and European heptathlon champion Nafissatou Thiam.
Now, at the age of 21, Mahuchikh has managed to clear two metres or more 33 times throughout her career. In a year of exciting clashes, Mahuchikh and Patterson went head-to-head on five occasions, Patterson winning three of those contests and Mahuchikh winning two. Mahuchikh’s performances included that victory in Brussels, where she cleared the world lead and also had three attempts at a would-be world record of 2.10m.
In Oregon, Patterson won on countback thanks to her first-time clearance of the winning hight. She timed her peak to perfection, clearing 2.00m for the first time to secure her world indoor silver and then improving by another two centimetres to get gold in Oregon.
Estonia's Karmen Bruus also impressed in Oregon, the 17-year-old equalling the world U18 best and senior Estonian record of 1.96m to finish seventh in the final. She would go on to win the world U20 title in Cali with a 1.95m leap.
Men’s high jump
Season top list
| 2.37m | Mutaz Barshim 🇶🇦 QAT | Eugene | 18 July |
| 2.35m | Woo Sanghyeok 🇰🇷 KOR | Eugene | 18 July |
| 2.34m | Ilya Ivanyuk ⚪ ANA | Moscow | 7 June |
| 2.34m | Danil Lysenko 🇷🇺 RUS | Moscow | 18 August |
| 2.34m | Gianmarco Tamberi 🇮🇹 ITA | Zurich | 7 September |
| 2.34m | JuVaughn Harrison 🇺🇸 USA | Zurich | 7 September |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Woo Sanghyeok 🇰🇷 KOR | 1405 |
| 2 | Gianmarco Tamberi 🇮🇹 ITA | 1383 |
| 3 | Mutaz Barshim 🇶🇦 QAT | 1375 |
| 4 | Django Lovett 🇨🇦 CAN | 1334 |
| 5 | Andriy Protsenko 🇺🇦 UKR | 1331 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Mutaz Barshim 🇶🇦 QAT | 2.37m |
| 🥈 | Woo Sanghyeok 🇰🇷 KOR | 2.35m =NR |
| 🥉 | Andriy Protsenko 🇺🇦 UKR | 2.33m |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Mutaz Essa Barshim 🇶🇦 QAT 2.37m
World Indoor Championships: Woo Sanghyeok 🇰🇷 KOR 2.34m
African Championships: Hichem Bouhanoun 🇩🇿 ALG 2.15m
European Championships: Gianmarco Tamberi 🇮🇹 ITA 2.30m
NACAC Championships: Luis Enrique Zayas 🇨🇺 CUB 2.25m
Oceania Championships: Hamish Kerr 🇳🇿 NZL 2.24m
Commonwealth Games: Hamish Kerr 🇳🇿 NZL 2.25m
Wanda Diamond League: Gianmarco Tamberi 🇮🇹 ITA 2.34m
World U20 Championships: Brandon Pottinger 🇯🇲 JAM 2.14m
Season at a glance
Woo Sanghyeok and Mutaz Barshim were the star athletes in 2022, Woo excelling during the indoor season and Barshim continuing his reign outdoors.
First, it was Woo’s time to shine, the 26-year-old setting a world lead of 2.36m during a season that would culminate with him becoming Korea’s first ever world indoor champion. After opening his season with a 2.23m clearance and fifth-place finish in Nehvizdy, he rebounded with a 2.36m national record to win in Hustopece – an outright PB that added a centimetre to the mark he achieved when finishing fourth at last year’s Olympic Games and also moved him to second on the Asian indoor all-time list behind Qatar’s Barshim.
He then cleared 2.35m in Banska Bystrica before winning his world indoor title ahead of Loic Gasch, while Gianmarco Tamberi and Hamish Kerr both got bronze – another joint medal for Tamberi after his shared Olympic gold with Barshim in Tokyo. A total of 10 athletes cleared 2.30m or higher during the indoor season, USA’s JuVaughn Harrison and Vernon Turner making it over 2.32m.
Both Olympic champions saved their outdoor season peaks for significant stages – Barshim winning a record third men’s world high jump title in Oregon and Tamberi securing a second successive Diamond League title.
Barshim had competed just twice in the lead up to Oregon, but once there he enjoyed a flawless performance to retain his world crown, ending with a world lead of 2.37m to win ahead of Woo and Andriy Protsenko.
Tamberi had to settle for fourth on countback but was so determined to end his season on a high that he delayed his honeymoon. A week after getting married, he managed a season’s best of 2.34m at the Diamond League Final in Zurich. Tamberi had taken a gamble, deciding to retire after one attempt at 2.36m while Harrison still had a chance to clinch the Diamond Trophy, but it was a winning decision, as Harrison also knocked off the bar and finished second on countback.
Overall, six athletes managed 2.34m or more during the outdoor season, and 17 made it over 2.30m, compared to seven and 26, respectively, in 2021.
Women’s pole vault
Season top list
| 4.91m | Anzhelika Sidorova ⚪ ANA | Cheboksary | 2 August |
| 4.85m | Katie Nageotte 🇺🇸 USA | Eugene | 17 July |
| 4.85m | Sandi Morris 🇺🇸 USA | Eugene | 17 July |
| 4.85m | Wilma Murto 🇫🇮 FIN | Munich | 17 August |
| 4.81m | Nina Kennedy 🇦🇺 AUS | Zurich | 7 September |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Sandi Morris 🇺🇸 USA | 1428 |
| 2 | Nina Kennedy 🇦🇺 AUS | 1396 |
| 3 | Tina Sutej 🇸🇮 SLO | 1362 |
| 4 | Katie Nageotte 🇺🇸 USA | 1354 |
| 5 | Katerina Stefanidi 🇬🇷 GRE | 1333 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Katie Nageotte 🇺🇸 USA | 4.85m |
| 🥈 | Sandi Morris 🇺🇸 USA | 4.85m |
| 🥉 | Nina Kennedy 🇦🇺 AUS | 4.80m |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Katie Nageotte 🇺🇸 USA 4.85m
World Indoor Championships: Sandi Morris 🇺🇸 USA 4.80m
African Championships: Mire Reinstorf 🇿🇦 RSA 3.80m
European Championships: Wilma Murto 🇫🇮 FIN 4.85m
NACAC Championships: Alina McDonald 🇺🇸 USA 4.50m
Oceania Championships: Olivia McTaggart 🇳🇿 NZL 4.50m
Commonwealth Games: Nina Kennedy 🇦🇺 AUS 4.60m
Wanda Diamond League: Nina Kennedy 🇦🇺 AUS 4.81m
World U20 Championships: Hana Moll 🇺🇸 USA 4.35m
Season at a glance
If there's a consolation prize for not winning a world title, it’s surely securing silver and seeing the victory go to your friend and training partner. That has been the scenario for both Katie Nageotte and Sandi Morris in 2022.
When Morris retained her world indoor title in Belgrade, she pipped Nageotte and Tina Sutej to finish on top of the podium. And when Nageotte added the world title in Oregon to the Olympic gold she claimed in Tokyo, she beat Morris on countback.
For Morris, that world indoor title win capped an unbeaten season, in which she cleared 4.65m or higher in each of her competitions. She soared over 4.80m in Belgrade to add a second world indoor gold to a major medal collection that also includes 2016 Olympic silver, two world outdoor medals of that same colour from 2017 and 2019, and a world indoor silver from 2016. Outdoors in 2022 she also finished first or second in each of the nine finals she contested and that consistency helped her to top the world rankings.
After some injury struggles throughout the year, Nageotte used her experience to peak on the biggest stage, clearing a season’s best of 4.85m on her first attempt, which would eventually secure her that world title win on countback, Morris needing two attempts at that height. Getting bronze, Nina Kennedy became Australia’s first world medallist in the event since Tatiana Grigorieva claimed a medal of the same colour in the inaugural women’s contest in 1999.
Wilma Murto joined Nageotte and Morris in making it over 4.85m, adding 13cm to her PB to improve the Finnish record when winning the European title, while Anzhelika Sidorova achieved the highest clearance of the year with 4.91m in Cheboksary.
Five women cleared 4.80m or higher during the outdoor season, Kennedy soaring over 4.81m to win the Diamond Trophy ahead of Morris, but 50 managed 4.50m or more – just one down on the record for depth.
Men’s pole vault
Season top list
| 6.21m | Mondo Duplantis 🇸🇪 SWE | Eugene | 24 July |
| 6.00m | Chris Nilsen 🇺🇸 USA | Sioux Falls | 6 May |
| 5.94m | Ernest John Obiena 🇵🇠PHI | Eugene | 24 July |
| 5.93m | Thiago Braz 🇧🇷 BRA | Stockholm | 30 June |
| 5.90m | Bo Kanda Lita Baehre 🇩🇪 GER | Berlin | 25 June |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Mondo Duplantis 🇸🇪 SWE | 1601 |
| 2 | Chris Nilsen 🇺🇸 USA | 1430 |
| 3 | Ernest John Obiena 🇵🇠PHI | 1394 |
| 4 | Thiago Braz 🇧🇷 BRA | 1394 |
| 5 | Renaud Lavillenie 🇫🇷 FRA | 1382 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Mondo Duplantis 🇸🇪 SWE | 6.21m WR |
| 🥈 | Chris Nilsen 🇺🇸 USA | 5.94m |
| 🥉 | Ernest John Obiena 🇵🇠PHI | 5.94m AR |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Mondo Duplantis 🇸🇪 SWE 6.21m
World Indoor Championships: Mondo Duplantis 🇸🇪 SWE 6.20m
African Championships: Hichem Khalil Cherabi 🇩🇿 ALG 5.20m
European Championships: Mondo Duplantis 🇸🇪 SWE 6.06m
NACAC Championships: Eduardo Napoles 🇨🇺 CUB 5.25m
Oceania Championships: Dalton Di Medio 🇦🇺 AUS 5.10m
Commonwealth Games: Kurtis Marschall 🇦🇺 AUS 5.70m
Wanda Diamond League: Mondo Duplantis 🇸🇪 SWE 6.07m
World U20 Championships: Anthony Ammirati 🇫🇷 FRA 5.75m
Season at a glance
There’s no question as to the men’s pole vault No.1 in 2022. Mondo Duplantis improved the world record three times throughout the year, clearing 6.19m and 6.20m indoors, and then 6.21m outdoors. He won the world indoor title and world gold outdoors, claimed the European crown and retained the Diamond Trophy. His only one loss of the year came at the Diamond League meeting in Brussels, but in 15 of the competitions he won, he did so with six metre-plus clearances.
The 23-year-old has now soared six metres or higher a career total of 54 times – the most of any athlete in history, including the legendary Sergey Bubka. Duplantis achieved 22 of those six metre-plus clearances in 2022.
His aims at the start of the year were to win both world titles and improve his own world record. That he won those world titles with world record-breaking performances is something he has described as “the cherry on top”.
In Belgrade, a fortnight after he had improved the world record to 6.19m in the same arena, Duplantis cleared 6.20m to win his first senior world title. Brazil’s Rio 2016 Olympic champion Thiago Braz cleared an area indoor record of 5.95m for silver and USA’s Olympic silver medallist Nilsen got bronze with 5.90m.
Then, in Oregon, Duplantis raised the bar to 6.21m to ensure a fitting finale to the World Athletics Championships. He achieved the fifth world record of his career on his second attempt at the height. Nilsen won another major medal, clearing 5.94m to claim silver, and that height was also managed by Philippines’ Ernest John Obiena, who added a centimetre to his own Asian record to win bronze – the first ever World Championships medal for his nation.
With seven athletes achieving 5.87m or higher and nine men clearing 5.80m, it was the deepest men's pole vault competition in history.
Nilsen started the year with a PB of 5.97m he set to win his Olympic medal, but he became the second athlete to surpass six metres in 2022, achieving the feat both indoors and outdoors.
First, he equalled the North American indoor record with 6.02m in Tourcoing in February, and he added three centimetres to that mark one month later, clearing 6.05m in Rouen to move to fifth on the world indoor all-time list.
In his second competition of the outdoor season he went over six metres again in Sioux Falls.
Women’s long jump
Season top list
| 7.13m | Brooke Buschkuehl 🇦🇺 AUS | Chula Vista | 9 July |
| 7.12m | Malaika Mihambo 🇩🇪 GER | Eugene | 24 July |
| 7.06m | Ivana Vuleta 🇷🇸 SRB | Munich | 18 August |
| 7.03m | Tara Davis 🇺🇸 USA | Chula Vista | 9 July |
| 7.02m | Ese Brume 🇳🇬 NGR | Eugene | 24 July |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Malaika Mihambo 🇩🇪 GER | 1411 |
| 2 | Ivana Vuleta 🇷🇸 SRB | 1392 |
| 3 | Ese Brume 🇳🇬 NGR | 1382 |
| 4 | Khaddi Sagnia 🇸🇪 SWE | 1345 |
| 5 | Quanesha Burks 🇺🇸 USA | 1342 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Malaika Mihambo 🇩🇪 GER | 7.12m |
| 🥈 | Ese Brume 🇳🇬 NGR | 7.02m |
| 🥉 | Leticia Oro Melo 🇧🇷 BRA | 6.89m |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Malaika Mihambo 🇩🇪 GER 7.12m
World Indoor Championships: Ivana Vuleta 🇷🇸 SRB 7.06m
African Championships: Marthe Koala 🇧🇫 BUR 6.42m
European Championships: Ivana Vuleta 🇷🇸 SRB 7.06m
NACAC Championships: Quanesha Burks 🇺🇸 USA 6.75m
Oceania Championships: Tomysha Clark 🇦🇺 AUS 6.38m
Commonwealth Games: Ese Brume 🇳🇬 NGR 7.00m
Wanda Diamond League: Ivana Vuleta 🇷🇸 SRB 6.97m
World U20 Championships: Plamena Mitkova 🇧🇬 BUL 6.66m
Season at a glance
Two experienced stars continued their reign in 2022, Malaika Mihambo retaining her world title in Oregon and Ivana Vuleta adding more world indoor, European and Diamond League titles to her highly decorated CV.
During an indoor season that saw seven women jump 6.80m or farther for the best depth since 2016, Vuleta provided the standout as she soared a world lead of 7.06m to successfully defend her world indoor crown in front of an ecstatic home crowd at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22. She won ahead of Nigeria’s Ese Brume (6.85m) and Britain’s Lorraine Ugen (6.82m).
While Vuleta would go on to finish seventh in the World Championships final in Oregon, she again finished on top at the European Championships and Wanda Diamond League Final, soaring her season’s best of 7.06m in Munich.
In Oregon, Mihambo held her nerve to rebound after two fouls in the opening rounds, jumping 6.98m, then 7.09m and finally 7.12m to add another global gold to her world and Olympic titles. Brume also soared beyond seven metres, reaching 7.02m to secure another silver medal, while Letiticia Oro Melo claimed Brazil’s first world medal in the event thanks to a 6.89m PB leap.
Australia’s Brooke Buschkuehl had gone into the championships with the world lead of 7.13m – a mark that she set in Chula Vista earlier in the month to improve her own Oceanian record – and she placed fifth in the world final with 6.87m, Australia’s best ever finish in the event at the World Championships.
Just seven centimetres separated third to eighth place, with Quanesha Burks just a single centimetre off Oro Melo’s bronze medal mark and Khaddi Sagnia also jumping 6.87m.
Men’s long jump
Season top list
| 8.52m | Miltiadis Tentoglou 🇬🇷 GRE | Munich | 16 August |
| 8.45m | Simon Ehammer 🇨ðŸ‡SUI | Gotzis | 28 May |
| 8.36m | Murali Sreeshankar 🇮🇳 IND | Thenhipalam | 3 April |
| 8.36m | Wang Jianan 🇨🇳 CHN | Eugene | 16 July |
| 8.35m | Maykel Masso 🇨🇺 CUB | Monaco | 10 August |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Miltiadis Tentoglou 🇬🇷 GRE | 1452 |
| 2 | Maykel Masso 🇨🇺 CUB | 1358 |
| 3 | Marquis Dendy 🇺🇸 USA | 1349 |
| 4 | Simon Ehammer 🇨ðŸ‡SUI | 1321 |
| 5 | Thobias Montler 🇸🇪 SWE | 1321 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Wang Jianan 🇨🇳 CHN | 8.36m |
| 🥈 | Miltiadis Tentoglou 🇬🇷 GRE | 8.32m |
| 🥉 | Simon Ehammer 🇨🇠SUI | 8.16m |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Wang Jianan 🇨🇳 CHN 8.36m
World Indoor Championships: Miltiadis Tentoglou 🇬🇷 GRE 8.55m
African Championships: Thalosang Tshireletso 🇧🇼 BOT 7.82m
European Championships: Miltiadis Tentoglou 🇬🇷 GRE 8.52m
NACAC Championships: William Williams 🇺🇸 USA 7.89m
Oceania Championships: Christopher Mitrevski 🇦🇺 AUS 7.90m
Commonwealth Games: LaQuan Nairn 🇧🇸 BAH 8.08m
Wanda Diamond League: Miltiadis Tentoglou 🇬🇷 GRE 8.42m
World U20 Championships: Erwan Konate 🇫🇷 FRA 8.08m
Season at a glance
Miltiadis Tentoglou was again a dominant force in 2022 but it was China’s Wang Jianan who triumphed at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, returning to the scene of his world U20 title win in 2014 to deny his Greek rival another global gold.
Tentoglou finished second on his season opener but wouldn’t then dip below 8.20m in any of his competitions for the rest of the season, remaining unbeaten in the lead up to the World Indoor Championships. There, he improved his own national indoor record to 8.55m, a performance that moved him to sixth on the world indoor all-time list, to win ahead of Thobias Montler’s Swedish indoor record and outright PB of 8.38m and Marquis Dendy’s 8.27m.
Tentoglou also achieved the farthest leap of the outdoor season, recording 8.52m to retain his European title in Munich, but Wang capitalised when the Olympic champion was unable to demonstrate that form in Oregon. There, Wang jumped 8.36m in the final round and Tentoglou couldn’t respond, having to settle for silver as he saw his win streak of 12 competitions in 2022 come to an end. The performance saw Wang become China’s first world long jump champion.
Wang is a former decathlete and he was joined on the podium by Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer, who continues to combine the 10-discipline event with the individual long jump. Ehammer went into the Oregon final as the world leader thanks to the 8.45m Swiss record he set in Gotzis in May to improve his own world decathlon long jump best. Jumping 8.16m for bronze behind Wang and Tentoglou, Ehammer became the first active decathlete to win a senior individual global medal in another discipline.
In a close final, Olympic bronze medallist Maykel Masso missed out on another medal by just a single centimetre.
Six athletes went beyond 8.30m outdoors, Murali Sreeshankar joining Wang at joint third on the season top list with his 8.36m Indian record set in Thenhipalam. Jumping 7.96m to finish seventh in Oregon, he matched the best ever men’s event placing by an Indian athlete at the World Athletics Championships.
Women’s triple jump
Season top list
| 15.47m | Yulimar Rojas 🇻🇪 VEN | Eugene | 18 July |
| 15.02m | Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk 🇺🇦 UKR | Munich | 19 August |
| 14.94m | Shanieka Ricketts 🇯🇲 JAM | Birmingham | 5 August |
| 14.86m | Tori Franklin 🇺🇸 USA | Monaco | 10 August |
| 14.79m | Keturah Orji 🇺🇸 USA | Eugene | 25 June |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Yulimar Rojas 🇻🇪 VEN | 1517 |
| 2 | Shanieka Ricketts 🇯🇲 JAM | 1401 |
| 3 | Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk 🇺🇦 UKR | 1365 |
| 4 | Thea LaFond 🇩🇲 DMA | 1350 |
| 5 | Tori Franklin 🇺🇸 USA | 1344 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Yulimar Rojas 🇻🇪 VEN | 15.47m |
| 🥈 | Shanieka Ricketts 🇺🇸 JAM | 14.89m |
| 🥉 | Tori Franklin 🇺🇸 USA | 14.72m |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Yulimar Rojas 🇻🇪 VEN 15.47m
World Indoor Championships: Yulimar Rojas 🇻🇪 VEN 15.74m
African Championships: Sangone Kandji 🇸🇳 SEN 13.76m
European Championships: Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk 🇺🇦 UKR 15.02m
NACAC Championships: Thea LaFond 🇩🇲 DMA 14.49m
Oceania Championships: Kayla Cuba 🇦🇺 AUS 13.56m
Commonwealth Games: Shanieka Ricketts 🇯🇲 JAM 14.94m
Wanda Diamond League: Yulimar Rojas 🇻🇪 VEN 15.28m
World U20 Championships: Sharifa Davronova 🇺🇿 UZB 14.04m
Season at a glance
Yulimar Rojas remains the undisputed queen of the triple jump. The Venezuelan superstar soared beyond 15 metres in all bar one of her competitions in 2022, topped by the remarkable outright world record of 15.74m she achieved when becoming the first ever athlete to win three world indoor titles in the discipline in Belgrade.
Her superb success story resumed in Madrid at the start of March, when she jumped a 15.41m season opener. Then came Belgrade and that 15.74m flight. Remaining unbeaten in her specialist event, she made a 14.83m outdoor debut and went on to jump 15.47m to win an unprecedented third world triple jump title in Oregon, 15.01m and 15.31m to win the Diamond League meetings in Monaco and Lausanne, and 15.28m to win another Diamond Trophy in Zurich.
Combining indoor and outdoor performances, and including ancillary marks, the 27-year-old now owns 11 of the 12 best ever jumps and she has leapt 15 metres or more a total of 41 times. Twelve of those 15 metre-plus performances came in 2022.
Like last year, two athletes went beyond 15 metres, Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk breaking the barrier for the first time with her 15.02m PB to win the European title. Bekh-Romanchuk also finished fourth in the long jump in Munich and did the double at the World Indoor Championships, too, jumping what was then a PB of 14.74m in just her second triple jump competition since 2013 to secure silver behind Rojas. There was impressive depth in Belgrade, as it was just the second ever indoor competition in which 10 women jumped beyond 14 metres.
At the global final in Oregon, Rojas was just three centimetres off the championship record as she got gold with a 15.47m leap, finishing ahead of Shanieka Ricketts (14.89m) and Tori Franklin (14.72m), who jumped a PB of 14.86m in Monaco to end the year at No.4 on the season top list ahead of her US compatriot Keturah Orji with 14.79m.
Men’s triple jump
Season top list
| 17.95m | Pedro Pichardo 🇵🇹 POR | Eugene | 23 July |
| 17.87m | Jordan Alejandro Diaz Fortun 🇨🇺 CUB | Nerja | 26 June |
| 17.70m | Andy Diaz Hernandez 🇨🇺 CUB | Zurich | 8 September |
| 17.55m | Hugues Fabrice Zango 🇧🇫 BUR | Eugene | 23 July |
| 17.50m | Lazaro Martinez 🇨🇺 CUB | Lausanne | 26 August |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Pedro Pichardo 🇵🇹 POR | 1442 |
| 2 | Andy Diaz Hernandez 🇨🇺 CUB | 1404 |
| 3 | Hugues Fabrice Zango 🇧🇫 BUR | 1394 |
| 4 | Lazaro Martinez 🇨🇺 CUB | 1373 |
| 5 | Jordan Alejandro Diaz Fortun 🇪🇸 ESP | 1351 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Pedro Pichardo 🇵🇹 POR | 17.95m |
| 🥈 | Hugues Fabrice Zango 🇧🇫 BUR | 17.55m |
| 🥉 | Zhu Yaming 🇨🇳 CHN | 17.31m |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Pedro Pichardo 🇵🇹 POR 17.95m
World Indoor Championships: Lazaro Martinez 🇨🇺 CUB 17.64m
African Championships: Hugues Fabrice Zango 🇧🇫 BUR 17.34m
European Championships: Pedro Pichardo 🇵🇹 POR 17.50m
NACAC Championships: Chris Benard 🇺🇸 USA 16.40m
Oceania Championships: Julian Konle 🇦🇺 AUS 16.21m
Commonwealth Games: Eldhose Paul 🇮🇳 IND 17.03m
Wanda Diamond League: Andy Diaz Hernandez 🇨🇺 CUB 17.70m
World U20 Championships: Jaydon Hibbert 🇯🇲 JAM 17.27m
Season at a glance
It might have been Lazaro Martinez’s first ever year competing indoors, but he achieved the biggest prize of them all when he jumped a world-leading 17.64m at the World Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.
An outright PB, that mark saw him soar to 16th on the world indoor all-time list and become the 19th athlete to have won individual world titles at U18, U20 and senior level – those age group victories having been claimed in 2013, and 2014 and 2016, respectively.
Olympic champion Pedro Pichardo jumped a Portuguese indoor record of 17.46m to get silver but was back to his winning ways at the World Championships in Oregon. In a year where he finished no lower than third in his nine competitions, the 29-year-old achieved a world lead of 17.95m from his very first attempt in the world final. In the end, no one else got close.
Like he did at last year’s Olympics, Pichardo beat China’s Zhu Yaming and Hugues Fabrice Zango of Burkina Faso, but this time it was Zango who secured silver and Zhu who bagged bronze. Pichardo also provided the second-best jump of the competition, backing up his winning mark with 17.92m.
Pichardo would go on to finish second at the Diamond League meeting in Silesia and get gold at the European Championships in Munich, before another second-place finish in a Diamond League Final won by Andy Diaz Hernandez. Those performances helped put Pichardo at the top of the world rankings, ahead of Diaz Hernandez, Zango, Martinez and Jordan Alejandro Diaz Fortun, who had the second-best performance of the year with 17.87m in Nerja.
Jamaica’s Jaydon Hibbert was also among the athletes to make a statement in 2022. After winning world U20 silver last year, the 17-year-old went one better and claimed gold in Cali, soaring a 17.27m championship record in the first round of the competition. A PB by 61cm, the performance put him second on the world U18 all-time list and made him the equal eighth best U20 athlete in the history of the event.
World Athletics
