Triple Jump, Men

The top triple jumper in the past decade had been American Christian Taylor, who had won the gold medal in London and Rio, and had won four World Championships, but he had torn his Achilles’ tendon earlier in the year and could not compete. In his absence, three jumpers were expected to contest the medals – Portugal’s Pedro Pichardo, Burkinabé Hugues Zango, and American Will Claye, the Rio silver medalist.

Pichardo dominated the event. In qualifying he recorded the longest ever qualifying mark with 17.71, as Zango barely made it to the final, jumping only 16.83 for the 12th spot, as Claye also made the final.

Pichardo took the lead in the final with 17.61 in round one and matched that mark in round two. Claye moved up to second in round three with 17.44, as Pichardo extended his lead with 17.98. Near the end of round three, Zango pushed Claye back to third as he jumped 17.47. In round five China’s Zhu Yaming pushed Claye off the podium by jumping a PR 17.57, helped by a trailing wind of +1.7 m/s.

Pichardo’s gold medal matched that of his countryman Nelson Évora, who had won gold at Beijing in 2008.