In the absence of World No.3 Pedro Pablo Pichardo in the men’s Triple Jump final, the event turned out to be a two-horse race between the American duo of Christian Taylor and Will Claye at the Olympic Stadium in London, but Taylor took the day after soaring to a winning mark of 17.68m to claim a third title at the World Championships.
Spurred on by the support of his parents who watched him compete, the Olympic Champion came from behind to overtake his compatriot, who took the lead in his first attempt with his leap of 17.54m, while Taylor responded with 16.97m.
Claye’s second attempt was 2cm shy of his first jump, but Taylor improved on his distance by setting a mark of 17.57m to overtake the US Champion. Claye returned to 1st place with a superior jump of 17.63m, which was his best jump of the evening, but his joy was short-lived as Taylor leapt to his eventual winning distance of 17.68m to retain a firm grip on the title.
Portugal’s Nelson Evora claimed Bronze with his distance of 17.19m, while Cuba’s Cristian Napoles settled for 4th with his jump of 17.16m.
Taylor’s dominance in the men’s Triple Jump cannot be overemphasized, with two consecutive Olympic GOLD medals and three world titles to his name. The 27-year old came to the World Championships with a Season’s Best (SB) of 18.11m, and having etched his name in the history books as No.2 on the all-time list, the only thing he hasn’t managed to get is Jonathan Edwards’ World Record (WR) of 18.29m.
Speaking after his victory, Taylor said: “Thank you everyone here for their support. Will Claye makes it difficult for me every time. I have this watch from my sponsor with 18.30 on it. I will try to fight, I will get this number. The record is still on. I am still motivated to break that record.
“My motivation is to be the best athlete. This was not the night, I am a little disappointed. But the season is not yet over. This final was a fight, I enjoyed it, it makes the competition fun. It was a beautiful night here and the weather was better than yesterday. I am glad to be back in this stadium.”
Meanwhile, the top contenders in the men’s Javelin throw secured their place in the final of the event after going through the qualifying rounds on Thursday. However, 2013 World Champion Vitezslav Vesely made a shock exit after being unable to hit the qualifying standard, finishing a distant 14th in Group A and 26th overall with his best throw of 75.50m.
German Champion and World No.1 Johannes Vetter was impressive, recording an impressive distance of 91.20m on his first attempt to become the only man on the field to throw beyond the 90m mark. He will be joined in the final by teammate and Olympic Champion Thomas Rohler (83.87m), defending champion Julius Yego (83.57m) and Tero Pitkamaki (85.97m) amongst others.
