BARTOLETTA BEATS BRITTNEY
TIANNA BARTOLETTA LEAPS LONG TO LEAD UNITED STATES ONE-TWO
JW
LONG JUMP
IT TOOK until round five for the first seven-metre leap of the competition, but from there they kept coming as all three eventual medallists bettered the mark for a brilliant battle.
The final saw world champion versus defending champion and in the end there was just two centimetres in it as Tianna Bartoletta took the title ahead of London 2012 winner Brittney Reese.
It was the first time that USA had claimed a one-two in this event, with Bartoletta jumping a 7.17m PB ahead of Reese’s 7.15m. Ivana Španovic bagged the bronze with a Serbian record-breaking 7.08m.
“This medal means a lot,” said the winner, who added Olympic gold to her two world titles claimed 10 years apart in 2005 and 2015. “This year didn’t go smoothly, it had lots of ups and downs and rough patches, so it really feels good that when you set a goal, no matter what happens, you’ve put your head down to focus on the things you can control.”
Tianna Bartoletta: 2005 and 2015 world champion is now Olympic gold medallist
Germany’s Malaika Mihambo had got the competition started with 6.83m and Spanovic leapt into the lead with 6.95m from her first attempt. Meanwhile, both Bartoletta and Reese fouled in the first round but put marks on the board in the second as they jumped 6.94m and 6.79m respectively. Britain’s Jazmin Sawyers had her best leap of the competition at this point as she went out to 6.69m.