World Championships: Men's long jump
Carl Lewis was the star of the first world championships in Helsinki in 1983, winning the 100m and anchoring USA’s 4x100m team to a world record.
A few minutes after the relay, he went to the long jump final and secured victory with his first jump, 8.55m. He passed the second round and then jumped 8.42m in the third and passed the last three rounds. An American clean sweep was completed as Jason Grimes jumped 8.29m with triple jump fourth-placer Mike Conley third.
Lewis was expected to get close to Bob Beamon’s world record in Rome in 1987 and although he wasn’t at his best due to stomach problems he produced a superb series with four jumps in the 8.60m to 8.67m range as well as an 8.43m. His first jump of 8.67m was calculated as 8.84m as he lost distance both on the board and in the sand.
He didn’t win easily though, as Soviet Robert Emmiyan jumped 8.53m for silver.
The Tokyo 1991 final was in the opinion of many the best field-event competition in history. Lewis had the greatest series ever but failed to add gold to his 100m win. After Lewis recorded a qualifying mark of 8.56m and then set a championship best of 8.68m in the opening round, Mike Powell responded with 8.54m in the second round as Lewis failed. In the third round, Lewis had his longest jump ever to that point, an 8.83m, but it was windy. He then finally bettered Beamon’s mark with 8.91m, but with the wind again over the limits at 2.9m/sec.
The longest ever jump at that point wasn’t going to prove enough for gold though, as in the fifth round, Powell sensationally jumped 8.95m. This time the wind was legal (0.3m/sec) and the American celebrated his world record. However, Lewis wasn’t finished and, jumping superbly, the very next jump was a legal PB of 8.87m as he came close to the new world record. With his final jump, Lewis jumped 8.84m and was beaten in the long jump for the first time in six years.
Twenty-four years later those marks still lie first and third on the all-time legal lists.
Larry Myricks made it a US clean sweep. Briton Mark Forsyth came close to making the final with a 7.95m leap in qualifying.
Powell returned to defend his title in Stuttgart, but was the only jumper over 8.20m as he won easily with 8.59m. His fifth best of 8.16m was equal to the best mark of runner-up Stanislav Tarasenko.
Cuban Ivan Pedroso, who jumped 8.23m in qualifying and no-jumped in the final, was a different proposition in Gothenburg in 1995. He had jumped a windy 8.96m at altitude in Sestriere the week before the championships and an 8.70m second jump gave him an easy victory. Powell was lying second until thefinal round with 8.29m, but James Beckford’s lastround Jamaican record 8.30m relegated him to the bronze.
Pedroso defended his title in Athens in 1997 after opening up with 8.42m and then went for broke, but continually fouled as Erick Walder came close to the Cuban with an 8.38m final jump. Beckford was third until the last round but lost out to Kirill Sosunov’s 8.18m.
Pedroso won his third title in Seville in 1999 but this time, much to the home crowd’s approval, was pushed hard by Yago Lamela. The Spaniard led with an 8.34m opener, though Pedroso won gold courtesy of an 8.56m third round as Lamela improved to 8.40m in the fourth. For the first time in a global championship, four jumpers went over 8.30m and Jai Taurima found an Australian record 8.35m good enough for only fourth. For the first time, America failed to win a medal – with a best of just seventh.
Pedroso wasn’t at his best in 2001 but nevertheless won a fourth title in Edmonton, an 8.40m giving him gold over Savante Stringfellow’s 8.24m. Dwight Phillips finished eighth in Canada but, two years later in Paris, won a tight contest with 8.32m giving him a 4cm victory over Beckford. Chris Tomlinson was second best in qualifying with 8.16m to become Britain’s first finalist in the event, but he was only ninth in the final. Pedroso was injured and pulled out after just one qualifying jump.
Phillips was more dominant in Helsinki in 2005. He jumped a windy 8.59m in qualifying and then a legal 8.60m in the final. Ghana’s Ignisious Gaisah was second with 8.34m. Panama’s Irving Saladino finished sixth, but in Osaka in 2007 jointly led from the second round with 8.30m and then jumped 8.46m to take the lead clearly in the third. In the last round, there was a sensation when Italy’s Andrew Howe took the lead with 8.47m. Saladino had one last jump to regain it and responded superbly with 8.57m. Phillips, who opened with 8.30m, had to settle for third.
Saladino fouled out in the 2009 final in Berlin as Phillips returned to top form to take gold with 8.54m, though South African Khotso Mokoena pushed him hard with 8.47m and Mitchell Watt jumped 8.37m for Australian bronze.
Greg Rutherford broke the British record with 8.30m to qualify second best behind Phillips but couldn’t quite find that form in the final as he finished fifth with 8.17m. Tomlinson had his best result yet with 8.06m for eighth.
Phillips had been injured in 2011 and wasn’t expected to be at his best in Daegu, but produced 8.32m in qualifying and then 8.31m in the first round and 8.45m in the second. That gave him his fourth gold and fifth medal in six finals. Watt improved to silver with 8.33m as Tomlinson finished 11th.
In Moscow in 2013, Phillips could only finish 11th as Aleksandr Menkov dominated with 8.52m in the third, 8.43m in the fourth and 8.56m in the fifth round. A distant second was Gaisah, who was by then in the colours of the Netherlands. An out-of-form Olympic champion Rutherford fell 2cm short of qualifying with 7.87m.
Year | Winner | Jump | GB position and mark
1983 Carl Lewis (USA) 8.55 No competitor
1987 Carl Lewis (USA) 8.67 No competitor
1991 Mike Powell (USA) 8.95 NQ Mark Forsyth 7.95
1993 Mike Powell (USA) 8.59 NQ Fred Salle 7.60
1995 Ivan Pedroso (CUB) 8.70 NQ Fred Salle nm
1997 Ivan Pedroso (CUB) 8.42 No competitor
1999 Ivan Pedroso (CUB) 8.56 NQ Nathan Morgan 7.31
2001 Ivan Pedroso (CUB) 8.40 No competitor
2003 Dwight Phillips (USA) 8.32 9 Chris Tomlinson 7.93 (8.16q)
2005 Dwight Phillips (USA) 8.60 NQ Chris Tomlinson 7.83
2007 Irving Saladino (PAN) 8.57 NQ Chris Tomlinson 7.89
2009 Dwight Phillips (USA) 8.54 5 Greg Rutherford 8.17 (8.30q)
2011 Dwight Phillips (USA) 8.11 11 Chris Tomlinson 7.87 (8.02q)
2013 Aleksandr Menkov (RUS) 8.56 NQ Greg Rutherford 7.87
Points table (8 for 1st etc)
1. USA 139
2. CUB 35
3. AUS 33
4. ESP 25
5. JAM 25
6. RUS 24
7. GER 20
8. RSA 20
9. UKR 18
10. ITA 14
25. GBR 5
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