US Champion Jeff Henderson extended his dominance to the world stage to claim his first global title after his leap of 8.38m won him the men’s Long Jump title on Day 2 of Track and Field at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The 27-year old waited until his final attempt to snatch the win from South Africa’s Luvo Manyonga by just 1cm, as the African was leading the field with his Personal Best (PB) effort of 8.37m.
Manyonga had to settle for Silver, while Greg Rutherford, who held all the major titles until the Games (Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European) took the Bronze with 8.29m.
Henderson won the US title after making an astonishing leap of 8.59m (+2.9) last month, and holds a PB of 8.54m set enroute winning the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.
For a moment, Henderson’s teammate Jarrion Lawson thought he had secured a podium placement after his final leap which was a huge one.
However during the replay it was discovered that his hand trailed in the sand as he landed, and ended up with 7.78m for the effort. His best mark of 8.25m put him at 4th place.
He later took to social media platform Twitter to say, “That was a great competition. I honestly don’t feel like I lost. Of course I don’t think my hand hit the sand, but greater is ahead!”
Lawson made history earlier this season by becoming the first man in 80 years to win three National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) outdoor titles in the 100m, 200m and Long Jump, a feat last accomplished by Jesse Owens.
African Champion Rushwahl Samaai would be wondering what went wrong after placing 9th overall with a mark of 7.97m.
