Men’s long jump set to ignite Trials

ONE OF the events outside of track at next month’s National Senior Championships set to attract a lot of attention will be the Men’s long jump.

The trio of Tajay Gayle, Wayne Pinnock, and Carey McLeod are expected to create a competitive feel never before had in the long jump sandpit at Trials.

All three have already attained the qualifying mark of 8.25 metres for the Budapest World Championships but bragging rights will be at stake with the winner being crowned national champion.

Following his personal best of 8.37 metres, done at the South Eastern Championships (SEC) Championships in May, winning the event for the University of Arkansas, Pinnock is the leader and, incidentally, the defending national champion.

In Eugene, Oregon, last year he finished ninth at the World Athletics Championships but is ranked number three on the World Athletics top list this season.

After upsetting his teammate to win at the recent NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas, with a season’s best 8.26 metres, McLeod, who represented the country in both the long and triple jump at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, will be hoping for a repeat.

While both Pinnock and McLeod are the form athletes going into the Trials, they could fall to the country’s record holder in the event. Gayle, who has not been at his best since injuring himself at last year’s National Championships, is the country’s first World Champion in the event after his win in Doha in 2019, and is seeking to regain that 8.69-metre form. Gayle met the qualifying standard for Budapast with an 8.26-metre leap last August in Italy but has only managed 8.12 this year.