Tokyo Olympics Athletics: Pedro Pichardo bags men’s triple jump gold medal

Tokyo Olympics Athletics: Pedro Pichardo bags men’s triple jump gold medal

Pedro Pichardo

Portugal’s Pedro Pichardo is the new men’s triple jump champion. Pichardo smashed the national record at the Tokyo Olympics to take the pole position on the podium. The Portuguese lept 17.98 meters, giving his country its fifth Olympic gold medal. Pichardo produced the best jump in his very first attempt and it was enough to bag the gold.

China’s Zhu Yaming produced a personal best of 17.57m for silver while Burkina Faso’s Hugues Fabrice Zango delivered his nation’s first Olympic medal after jumping 17.47m to take bronze. Pichardo’s national record smashing effort is the second-longest winning jump at an Olympics after American Kenny Harrison‘s record leap of 18.09m at the 1996 Games.

Rio and London Olympics men’s triple jump silver medalist fails to step up

Pedro Pichardo
Pedro

While Pedro Pichardo rose to the occasion to win his maiden Olympic medal, America’s Will Claye failed to emulate his past heroics. Claye, who finished second in London and Rio Games, finished fourth with the best jump of  17.44m, his season-best. Pedro Pichardo, on the other hand, is very content with his performance.

“This was a very good competition, a tough field,” Pichardo told Reuters. “All the athletes were so strong, so that makes me feel even better about winning the gold medal.“

“It was always one of my dreams to win the Olympic gold. I feel a huge sense of happiness and I still have plenty of dreams ahead of me.“

Defending champion Christian Taylor was unable to defend his title in Tokyo. The American was ruled out of Tokyo 2020 after suffering an Achilles injury in May.

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