Juan Miguel Echevarria once again proved why he is the best long jumper in world as he stormed to the final with a clear distance on the opening day of the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 yesterday.
The Cuban, who produced a world leading performance of 8.65m at the Zurich Diamond League meeting, cleared a distance of 8.40m to top qualifying comfortably at the Khalifa International Stadium.
Echevarria’s competitors could not even cleared the 8.15m, as Jeff Henderson of the US finished finished second with a jump of 8.12m.
“I am feeling very well. I was only 17 when I had the first World Championships. I am more experienced and confident now,” the 21-year-old Echevarria said told reporters yesterday.
“The weather was fine and the track is very fast. For the final, I want to be in the top eight after the first three rounds and aim for gold for sure,” he added.
Japan’s Yuki Hashioka (8.07m), USA’s Steffin Mccarter (8.04m) and Russian Ruswahi Samaai (8.07m) completed the top 5 finish.
Hashioka was content with his performance that gave him third spot in the qualifying.
“I am relieved to be qualified. It was a good performance. My first attempt was not good because the atmosphere was too excited and this did not help me,” he added.
Meanwhile, Pedro Pablo Pichardo topped qualifying for the men’s triple jump final to be played on September 29. He marked 17.38m to finish on top followed by Burma’s Hughes Fabrice (17.17m) and USA’s Christain Taylor (16.99m).
Taylor was happy with his performance and the conditions too.
“The conditions are perfect. The stadium they did a wonderful job, not too cold, it’s perfect,” he said.
