The ultimate Long Jump Showdown in Sweden

Jamaica’s Tajay Gayle had a fantastic month so far, winning the diamond league in Shanghai as well as IAAF world challenge in Nanjing but the Jamaican long jumper will walk into a superior field in Stockholm, Sweden. Gayle will be up against the Defending Olympic Champion Jeff Henderson of United States, Defending World Champion Luvo Manyonga of South Africa but the most exciting name in the field is 20-year-old jumper Juan Miguel Echevarría of Cuba.

There were Four stadium records were set at last year’s edition but the leading performance was Juan Miguel Echevarría’s fantastic 8.83m in the long jump, which was only twelve centimeters from the 27-year-old world record. On 30 May, he is back at StockholmEchevarría’s performance last year was one of the greatest achievements ever at Stockholm Olympic Stadium.

He almost jumped out of the pit, then came a tense wait while the distance was measured, followed by shouts of joy at the result – 8.83m. The wind gauge showed +2.1 m/s – just 0.1 over the limit for a legal jump. After that, he continued unbeaten for the rest of the year and topped the world’s statistics with 8.68m in the legal wind. This gave him first place in Track&Field News world ranking. In 2019 he has continued to progress and at home in Havana in March he jumped 8.92m, this time however with a 3.3m/s tailwind.