Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou – the reigning Olympic, world and European long jump champion outdoors – defended his world indoor long jump title in a tense and exciting contest with Italy’s Mattia Furlani, both men jumping 8.22m on Saturday morning (2).
Both men’s best efforts in Glasgow came in the first round and from that point it was a case of whether either man could improve or, at least, get a better second jump than their main rival.
Neither man went any further, but Tentoglou stayed in first place for the rest of the competition, except very briefly for less than a minute in the fourth round, by virtue of having a better second jump.
Despite the gold medal and a $40,000 first prize cheque, Tentoglou had mixed feelings about his morning's work.
"I jumped terrible. I was lucky to win so I am just a lucky guy. It was very close but I hope everyone had some fun today. At least it was exciting in the end.
"However, this track is one of my favourite ones so that was good, similar as in Budapest I guess," reflected Tentoglou, whose frustration was visible to see with his body language and facial expressions as he consulted his coach Georgi Pomashki in the stands after every jump.
In the fourth round, the prodigious Furlani – the reigning European U18 and U20 champion having only just turned 19 less than a month ago – jumped 8.10m with his fourth effort only for the experience campaigner and perennial big occasion performer Tentoglou to respond moments later with 8.15m to regain pole position.
Furlani finished with 8.04m and a foul while Tentoglou reached 8.11m and 8.19m, the latter with the last jump of the contest and the competition already won to bring the head-to-head duel to a close.
Tentoglou is now unbeaten in 13 indoor competitions and his winning streak now extends back more than two years to February 2022. Among those victories was his third consecutive European Indoor long jump title in Istanbul 12 months ago.
Furlani for his part became youngest ever World Athletics Indoor Championships long jump medallist.
"I am so excited because it is the first steps for me on the world stage. I have been dreaming about this medal for weeks and I want to thank everybody who has worked with me. I have got time now (in my career) to improve my speed and my power but I am so excited to have done this," said the Italian.
The battle in Glasgow between the pair will have whetted the appetite for an anticipated rematch at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships.
The men's long jump final is scheduled for the evening of the second day on Saturday 8 June when the crowd in the Italian capital's Olympic Stadium is expected to be fervently behind their teenage compatriot, who is one of the public faces of the championships.
In a men’s long jump final which featured seven Europeans, Sweden’s Thobias Montler was short of the form which saw his take the silver medal with 8.38m in Belgrade two years ago and finished eighth with 7.80m while Bulgaria’s Bozhidar Saraboyukov, who lost out to Furlani by just one centimetre in a memorable European U20 contest last August, was a disappointed 11th with 7.73m.
Full results and further information can be found on the World Athletics website here.
Phil Minshull for European Athletics