Jamaica’s Wayne Pinnock competes in the men’s long jump final during the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, on Sunday. (Photos: AFP)
Pinnock ‘grateful’ for World Indoor long jump silver
A third-straight global silver medal in the men’s long jump by Wayne Pinnock, a maiden global medal in the women’s sprint hurdles by Ackera Nugent, and a first men’s mile relay medal in a decade highlighted Jamaica’s final day at the World Athletics Indoor Championships inside the Nanjing Cube in Nanjing, China.
Jamaica finished with four medals, including two silver and two bronze, at the championships which were originally scheduled to be held in 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Jamaicans were 17th overall and sixth on the placing tables with 41 points.
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High jumper Raymond Richards had won Jamaica’s first medal of the championships when he took the bronze on Friday’s opening day.
On Sunday’s final day Pinnock, who had won silver medals at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Hungary and at the 2024 Olympic Games in France, upgraded Carey McLeod’s bronze medal won at the World Indoor last year in Scotland. Pinnock jumped a season’s best 8.29m.
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Two centimetres separated the top three men in the closely contested long jump final that was won by Italy’s 20-year-old Mattia Furlani with 8.30m. Third went to Australia’s Liam Adcock (2.28m).
Two-time champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece finished fifth, the first time he finished off the medal podium at a major global championships in at least three years.
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Pinnock appeared visibly disappointed after the competition but said he is being patient as his time to stand on the top of the podium will come.
“Over the year — from Budapest to Paris to now — I’ve been getting a silver. God just puts some people in a position to wait, and I believe in that. I know when it’s my time it’ll be something crazy.”
The two-time NCAA indoor champion and joint indoor national record holder added: “It was a very good competition. The best [man] went out there and won. My mindset was just to focus and to win. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. I’m just forever grateful for what I’ve achieved over the past couple of years.”
Tajay Gayle, who was sixth in Scotland last year, finished 10th on Sunday with a best of 7.83m.
Nugent redeemed herself after back-to-back global disappointments when she took the bronze in the 60m hurdles final with a season’s best 7.74 seconds.
She had a less-than-smooth run to the final, getting off to a slow start before winning her first-round race. In the semi-finals she hit the last two hurdles to place second, and was emotional after winning her first senior global medal in the final.
“I didn’t have a good first two rounds so to be able to put it together is a great feeling” she said. “All I needed to do was to trust in the process and I knew that I’d be okay. The only thing that I was saying in my head is that God is going to accelerate my dreams, literally, and He did. It’s really not easy but as long as you believe in yourself and your potential, it’ll eventually come together.”
It was a blanket finish as defending champion and world record holder Devynne Charlton retained her title with a season’s best 7.72, just ahead of world leader Ditaji Kambundji of Switzerland who took the silver medal with 7.73. Kambundji had been hoping to join her sister, women’s 60m winner Mujinga, as gold medallists.
The Jamaican men’s 4x400m relay team won the silver medal, the country’s first medal in the event since Sopot, Poland, in 2014.
The team comprising individual 400m semi-finalist Rusheen McDonald, Jasauna Dennis, Kimar Farquharson and Demar Francis clocked 3:05.05 minutes to take silver, behind the United States.
It was the first Jamaican men’s quartet to win a medal since Errol Nolan, Allodin Fothergill, Akheem Gauntlett and Edino Steele set a national indoor record of 3:03.69 when they finished third.
Dennis reflected that he could have run a more complete race.
“I was just trying to go out there and not go too hard, and [to] finish strong. I was bracing myself but I could’ve done better. I could’ve gone out a bit harder in the first 200m”.
Farquharson, who had the third-fastest split of 45.41 in the race, said: “We have a good team, we just have to put it together. Team USA is a good team but I think we are good as well. It was a good race; I’m grateful for it.”
Also on Sunday, Jamaica’s Rajindra Campbell finished ninth in the men’s shot put with a best mark of 20.45m, equalling his season’s best.
The national record holder in both the indoor and outdoor shot puts, who had failed to make a legal mark a year ago in Scotland, had survived the first cut but then failed to get into the final eight.
Faced with being eliminated at the first hurdle, Campbell, the 2024 Olympic Games bronze medallist, produced his best mark of the championships to move three spots up from 12th position, after he had thrown 19.18m and 19.74m.
Gold medallist Italy’s Mattia Furlani (centre), silver medallist Jamaica’s Wayne Pinnock (left), and bronze medallist Australia’s Liam Adcock pose for a picture during the men’s long jump medal ceremony of the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China.
