European Athletics (EAA) – News – Tamgho improves his own triple jump world indoor record

France’s Teddy Tamgho, the 2010 European Rising Star of the Year, bettered his own world indoor triple jump record by one centimetre, leaping 17.91m at the French national championships in Aubière on Sunday.

Opening up with two fouls, the 21-year-old Tamgho then reached 17.35m with his third attempt before going into new territory in the fourth round. He followed up his massive record-breaking leap with a 17.58m effort in the fifth round before ending the competition with a jump of 17.08m.

Tamgho’s previous indoor record was 17.90m, which he leapt to win the 2010 world indoor title in Doha last March.

He had advertised since his first competition in January that he had two targets this winter, to win in front of his family and friends at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Paris in two weeks time and also to break his own world indoor record.

The 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships will be held in the French capital at the Palais Omnisport Paris-Bercy from 4-6 March and the stage is now set for Tamgho to try to become the first man to go over 18 metres under cover.

Tamgho has an outdoor best of 17.98m, which he set in New York last summer, and which puts him third on the world all-time rankings.

A long way behind Tamgho, another 21-year-old triple jumper Yoann Rapinier went over 17 metres for the first time and finished second with 17.02m while Karl Taillepierre, fourth at the 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships, was third with 16.92m.

Another top mark in Aubière came from 2010 European Athlete of the Year Christophe Lemaitre who put behind him a string of lacklustre performances since he returned from his January training camp in Miami to win the 60m in 6.58, the second fastest time in Europe this year and just three-hundredths away from her personal best set last year.

Leslie Dhjone won the 400m title in a European-leading time of 46.13.

European Athletics (EAA) – News