With Christian Taylor failing to qualify for Tokyo and Will Claye not quite reaching top form the men’s triple jump looks up for grabs. Athletes from Portugal, Cuba and Burkina Faso will all be gunning for Olympic gold. Here’s our men’s triple jump preview for Tokyo.
Schedule
Tuesday 3 August 01:00 UK Time (Qualification) Thursday 5th August 03:00 UK Time (Final)
2021 Furthest Jumps
| 2021 Rankings | Distance | Athlete | Country |
| 1 | 17.92 | Pedro Pichardo | Portugal |
| 2 | 17.82 | Hugues Fabrice Zango | Burkina Faso |
| 3 | 17.63 | Andy Diaz | Cuba |
| 4 | 17.39 | Yaming Zhu | China |
| 5 | 17.35 | Andrea Dallavalle | Italy |
| 6 | 17.34 | Jordan Alejandro Diaz Fortun | Cuba |
| 7 | 17.33 | Yasser Mohamed Triki | Algeria |
| 8 | 17.21 | Will Claye | USA |
| 9 | 17.19 | Melvin Raffin | France |
| 10 | 17.18 | Donald Scott | USA |
British interest
Ben Williams was a World Youth Champion in 2009 and jumped 17.27 in 2019. He hasn’t reached that level so far this year but will hope to peak for Tokyo. He will have to be at his best to qualify for the final.
The favourites
Will Claye has to start as favourite, having won a competitive US trials and being one of only two athletes in the field to have jumped over 18 metres (18.15). He has only jumped in three competitions this year, all in the USA and has won silvers in the last two Olympics (as well as Long Jump bronze in London 2012). With no Christian Taylor he will hope to finally land the gold.
Pedro Pichardo will have something to say about that and seems to be rounding into form just at the right time with wins in Székesfehérvár and Gateshead. He is the only other man in the field to have jumped in excess of 18 metres, a mark (18.08) he managed in 2015. After two world championship silvers in 2013 and 2015 he will make his Olympic gold assault in Tokyo.
Hugues Fabrice Zango will hope to get Burkina Faso’s first ever Olympic medal and jumped his personal best at the start of July to finish second in Székesfehérvár. That is the only competition he has lost this year and he has every chance of snatching the gold.
Andy Diaz has competed once outside Cuba, finishing second in Oslo. He jumped over 17.5 metres for the first time in June. He finished 7th in the London 2017 World Championships. If he can jump his personal best, a big if, that would be good enough to medal in every Olympics that has taken place.
Yaming Zhu has not jumped outside China this year but was the Asian Champ in 2017 so is worth keeping an eye on.
My wildcard pick is Jordan Alejandro Diaz Fortun. The twenty-year-old from Cuba is an unknown entity but at his best could sneak a medal. Like him Andrea Dallavalle, still only twenty-one has a free shot at a medal push.
Our medal predictions
- Will Claye
- Pedro Pichardo
- Hugues Fabrice Zango
Records
WR: 18.29m Jonathan Edwards (1995)
OR: 18.09m Kenny Harrison (1996 Atlanta)
Featured image “Pedro Pablo Pichardo” by Doha Stadium Plus is licensed under CC BY 2.0
