The Women’s Long Jump: 2022 Muller Indoor Grand Prix, Birmingham, England

Ladies’s lengthy bounce

The ladies’s lengthy bounce on the Muller Grand Prix in Birmingham had a distinctively early-season really feel to it. There was one fascinating innovation with no plasticine in sight with the take-out line protected electronically and athletes ready anxiously for the inexperienced mild which signifies a authorized bounce. The format for the 8 athletes was a assured 5 jumps adopted by a further bounce for the highest three. And the winner was the one that jumped furthest within the six jumps – a novel thought however it would by no means catch on!

Mary Bekh Romanchuk, photograph by Getty Pictures / British Athletics

The primary shock was that Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk, silver medallist within the 2019 World Championship and fifth in Tokyo, didn’t land a authorized bounce. The winner was Khaddi Sagnia of Sweden with 6.70. Sarcastically it was 6.70 within the opening spherical however with three fouls to comply with. The second was Akela Jones of Barbados with 6.52 and Ivana Vuleta (Spanovic) 6.51. Jones and Vuleta had been very in keeping with, between them, 5 leaps of 6.50-6.52. Spanovic is from Serbia and received the European Indoors in the identical area wherein subsequent month’s World Indoors will happen.

The bonus spherical was an anti-climax with Sagnia unable to higher her opening bounce and the opposite two fouling. Sagnia commented: “”This can be a good competitors for me. I have been having points with my run-up and that i’s been small particulars. However, to me, it means quite a bit. After the primary spherical, it was all about staying protected and calm. Leaping 6.70m so early on is sweet and I can now take that with me to the World Championships.”

Jazmin Sawyers, photograph by Getty Pictures / British Athletics

Britain is robust in ladies’s lengthy bounce with three athletes on UKA funding. On the Tokyo Olympics, Jazmin Sawyers was eighth and Abigail Irozuru eleventh with Lorraine Ugen failing to achieve the ultimate. Then there’s Shara Proctor, a World Championship silver medallist and a 7m jumper, who, fighting damage, has not competed since June 2021.

Abigail Irozuru, photograph by Getty Pictures / British Athletics

In Birmingham, Abigail Irozuru was fourth with 6.41, Lorraine Ugen fifth with 6.38, and Jazmin Sawyers sixth with 6.28. Sawyers had three fouls, Ugen two and Irozuru one. Final 12 months I requested Sawyers to elucidate why fouls occurred. She instructed me: “It may be that you just did not heat up sufficient and you might be warming up into the competitors. It may be – and that is typically me – that slightly than placing my foot straight down onto the board, I am reaching for it. Particularly after I was youthful, that was customary for me.

“Spherical one has been a degree of competition for me. I spent a very long time fouling. So more often than not in spherical one I am nervous about fouling so I’ve tended to attempt to get a protected bounce in. However speaking to my sports activities psychologist I concluded {that a} protected bounce is not value any greater than a foul. It is not going that can assist you. However one thing about having a authorized bounce calms me and helps me to calm down and go for it. I am attempting to have the identical mentality that I’ve in the remainder of the competitors in spherical one. However I have not but managed to load up the depth in spherical one. I’ve even performed round with taking a full bounce in warm-up in order that that appears like I’ve already had my spherical one bounce”.

To place Birmingham in context, the next day in Dusseldorf, Malaika Mihambo registered a 6.96.