By Mitch Phillips
TOKYO (Reuters) – Pedro Pichardo won the world triple jump gold medal after the most extraordinary finale on Friday as Italy’s Andrea Dallavalle thought he had snatched it with a huge final jump, only for the Portuguese to respond with a massive 17.91 metres.
Returning to the site of his 2021 Tokyo Olympic gold, Pichardo, the 2022 world champion, seemed to be cruising to a routine victory after twice landing 17.55 jumps.
Dallavalle was sitting in fifth and struggling for rhythm, but somehow got it together to land a massive personal best of 17.64. Pichardo, though, was unfazed and duly delivered the longest jump by anyone this season to regain top spot and the gold medal.
Cuba’s Lazaro Martinez, silver medallist in 2023, finished third with 17.49, while Algeria’s Yasser Mohammed Triki, who was sitting in third all night after his opening jump of 17.25, slipped to an agonising fourth.
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Alex Richardson)
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