Atheltics Weekly

IAAF WORLD CHAMPS 2017
MANYONGA’S THE MAN TO BEAT
LONG JUMP
SURVIVAL of the fittest is the
theme for this event in 2017.
Reigning world champion Greg
Rutherford has been forced to
withdraw due to injury, while
the sensation of the early part
of the season, Luvo Manyonga,
has been recovering from an
Event statistics
World record: 8.95m Mike Powell
(USA)
Champs record: 8.95m Mike Powell
(USA)
Defending champion: Greg
Rutherford (GBR)
British interest: None
AW prediction: 1 Manyonga (RSA),
2 Samaai (RSA), 3 Henderson (USA)
History: Dwight Phillips won four
golds and a bronze between 2003
and 2011 and was a finalist in 2013.
ankle injury sustained at the
Stockholm Diamond League.
Manyonga, who won
Olympic silver in Rio, dominates
the world rankings this year
Luvo Mayonga:
dominates world
rankings in 2017
with a best of 8.65m, while the
No.2 on the world lists going
into London is his South African
team-mate Ruswahl Samaai.
If fit, Manyonga should be
the strong favourite. If he wins,
it will be quite a story as well
for a 26-year-old who used
to be a crystal meth addict in
a poverty-stricken township
and once tested positive for
the recreational drug but has
gone on to become one of the
world’s No.1 athletes.
Olympic champion Jeff
Henderson joins Jarrion Lawson
and Marquis Dendy as part
of a strong US trio. The 2013
world champion Aleksandr
Menkov, meanwhile, is one of
the Russian athletes allowed to
compete in London under the
neutral flag.
Other contenders include
Ruswahl Samaai:
No.2 in world
this year
Tyrone Smith of Bermuda,
Maykel Masso of Cuba, Shi
Yuhao of China, Michel Torneus
of Sweden and Eusebia
Caceres of Spain. JH
ANOTHER WORLD TITLE FOR TAYLOR?
TRIPLE JUMP
CHRISTIAN TAYLOR, the
Olympic and world champion,
is favourite for this title, given
the absence of his rival, Pedro
Pablo Pichardo.
Christian Taylor:
Olympic and world
champion
Pichardo won silver at the
last two World Championships
and beat the American at the
Diamond League in Lausanne
last month but has been in
dispute with his own Cuban
federation and is said to be
in the process of switching
allegiance to Portugal.
Taylor, who also took home
Olympic gold in London in
2012, will still have to work
to win though, and gain what
would be a popular victory.
Fellow American Will Claye
won silvers at the last two
Olympics and is ranked No.2
in the world this year.
Chris Benard and Donald
Scott complete a US quartet
(Taylor gained automatic
selection as a reigning
champion and Diamond
League winner) while other
contenders include European
champion Max Hess of
Germany and world indoor
champion Dong Bin of China,
while Cristian Napoles and
Andy Diaz will still ensure Cuba
Event statistics
World record: 18.29m Jonathan
Edwards (GBR)
Champs record: 18.29m Jonathan
Edwards (GBR)
Defending champion: Christian
Taylor (USA)
British interest: Nathan Fox
AW prediction: 1 Taylor (USA),
2 Claye (USA), 3 Benard (USA)
History: Jonathan Edwards won five
successive medals between 1993
and 2001, taking gold in 1995 and
2001.
has good representation in
the event.
Nathan Fox flies the flag
for Britain. The Shaftesbury
Barnet man was runner-up in
the British trials to Ben Williams
but was the only Brit to better
the qualifying mark with a best
of 16.81m. JH
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