Andy Diaz was a class apart in the triple jump at the Meeting Metropole Miramas, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting, on 2 February.
With his very first jump of the competition, the Cuban-born Italian recorded a world lead of 17.46m. He equalled that mark in the third round before retiring from the competition in the fifth round.
“I expected this result because the 16.90m with a short run-up [in Pamplona on 29 December] was encouraging. It was a good start,” said Diaz, whose next competition is the Copernicus Cup in Torun on Tuesday evening.
“In Torun, with so many strong athletes in the field, there will be even more motivation and more adrenaline,” added Diaz as quoted by FIDAL.
Diaz won by almost one metre over some of Europe’s leading triple jumpers. Finland’s Simo Lipsanen was second with a season’s best of 16.64m with Portugal’s Tiago Pereira third with 16.53m. Former European champion Max Hess from Germany was fourth with 16.32m.
However, Diaz is only eligible to compete for Italy in international competitions from 1 August which means he will miss the opportunity of competing on home soil at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships from 7-12 June.
Belocian glides to 7.51 in the 60m hurdles
France’s Wilhem Belocian maintained his unbeaten start to the season with a slick performance in the 60m hurdles.
After clocking 7.54 and 7.55 in Nantes last weekend, Belocian opened with 7.56 in his heat before improving his season’s best and the meeting record to 7.51 in the final, just 0.02 shy of Asier Martinez’s world lead of 7.49 from Val-de-Reuil.
Enrique Llopis closed quickly to finish second in a season’s best of 7.61.
A slew of meeting records were set across the evening. Great Britain’s Scott Lincoln maintained his good early season form with victory in the shot put with 21.01m and European U23 silver medallist Robin Emig equalled his lifetime best with another meeting record of 5.75m in the pole vault.
International highlights included African 100m record-holder Ferdinand Omanyala winning the 60m in 6.52 and South Africa’s Ryan Mphahlele winning the 1500m in 3:36.57 ahead of Italy’s Federico Riva who gained ownership of the Italian indoor record with 3:36.74.
Steven Mills for European Athletics