If there was ever a doubt hovering on whether Christian Taylor was going to win the men’s Triple Jump Final, then the upset as it would still have been regarded would have been from his teammate and arch-rival Will Claye who this season joined the 18m league.
Claye opened up his attempts with a solid 17.61m, quickly improving to a bigger 17.72m, while Taylor found himself battling with two fouls in his opening attempts. He then made sure he got his final three attempts as he jumped 17.42m to move up momentarily into 4th place.
Taylor then proved to be the champion, bounding out to a decisive 17.86m while Claye also improved to 17.74m. His winning mark came in the 5th round, totally nailing the win with his best jump of the season at 17.92m.
Claye on his part, repeated 17.74m in the 5th round for a silver medal while the bronze went into the hands of Burkina Faso’s Hugues Fabrice Zango who reached a final round 17.66m, a new Personal Best (PB) and African Record (AR).
With his Bronze medal, Zango became the first ever athlete from Burkina Faso to win a medal at any World Championships.
