BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, CMC – Jamaican triple jumper Jaydon Hibbert produced the one of the stand-out performances at the SEC Championships, which ended on Saturday in the United States.
Jumping for the University of Arkansas, the world Under-20 champion transferred his impressive indoor form from earlier in the year to the outdoors.
He cleared he 17.02 metres with his first attempt using a 12-stride run-up, then improved to 17.87m in the second round to smash the world U20 record. “I don’t think there’s any [other] 18-year-old that does the stuff I do,” Hibbert, who also holds the world U20 record indoors and outdoors, said in an interview posted on the Twitter account of the university.
“Honestly, I’m so proud of myself… I knew that was a big one because I was all the way at the back of the pit.” Hibbert passed on his next four attemps to preseve his legs.
“When I saw the [58-7 1/2], I just said, ‘OK, that’s it for me’,” he said. “I’m obviously favoured, but I do put in the hard work.” Hibbert still has another year in the U20 age group, and he was contesting only his third outdoor triple jump this year.
Before this year, the world U20 record stood at 17.50m, set 38 years ago by Volker Mai of East Germany. Hibbert then jumped 17.54m indoors for an outright world U20 record, but his jump in the SEC Championships could – pending ratification – now stands as the outdoor world U20 record and world lead. It also puts him in a three-way tie for 13th on the all-time list. It was a good day for Jamaican field eventers, with Wayne Pinnock winning the men’s long jump with a leap of 8.37m. Roje Stona tossing the discus 68.64m, his third personal best of the year, and the second furthest distance in collegiate history; compatriot and fellow Arkansas sophomore Ralford Mullings finished second in the discus with a measurement of 62m flat, despite suffering an ankle injury in warm-ups.
“I didn’t know it was that far to be honest,” Stona said in an interview posted on Twitter account of Arkansas. “But that throw felt a lot different. I stayed on it a lot longer.”
Commonwealth Games 2022 high jump champion Lamara Distin extended her unbeaten run this season with a clearance of 1.91m on her first attempt for a fourth SEC title in a row.