Miltos Tentoglou, Greece's Olympic long jump champion, said he expects to jump 8.50 metres with ease in Tuesday's European Athletics Championships final in Birmingham, and said he isn't sure any rival can keep pace.
The 28-year-old, who is also the reigning European champion, qualified for the final with a leap of 8.26 metres on his second attempt. The final is scheduled for Tuesday, August 11, at 22:16.
Speaking to SEGAS, the Hellenic Amateur Athletic Federation, Tentoglou said he had wanted to hit the qualifying distance on his very first attempt. He said that jump was tragic because every one of his earlier run-throughs had a favourable tailwind, which then turned into a headwind during the jump itself. He said the team fixed the problem quickly.
Second Jump
Tentoglou said he felt very good going into his second jump, but that he took off from 14 to 16 centimetres behind the board and lost some distance on the landing. He estimated that, done cleanly, the jump would have measured 8.40 to 8.50 metres. He said he believes jumps of that distance will now come easily to him, and that he doesn't know whether anyone will be able to follow.
Rivals for Gold
Asked who he expected to challenge him for the gold medal, Tentoglou said he would have named Furlani, but that Furlani was injured and would not be competing in the final. He said the younger jumpers in the field are good, but that he doesn't know what they are capable of.
He said he could be wrong, but that he would be satisfied with an 8.50-metre jump whatever the outcome, and that anything further would be even better.
Furlani's Injury
A separate report on the same news site said Furlani suffered a serious injury during the championships and left the stadium in a wheelchair. Another report said Tentoglou had paused his own post-qualifying interview earlier the same day to watch a jump by the Italian athlete Insoli.
