Olympics: Men's Long Jump Preview

Men’s Long Jump

Qualifying 8:20 PM Friday, August 12^th

Final 7:50 PM Saturday, August 13^th

World Record: Mike Powell (USA) 8.95m, 1991

Best Mark Past 10 Years: Dwight Phillips (USA) 8.74m, 2007

Olympic Record: Bob Beamon 8.90m, 1968

A Standard: 8.15m

2012 Olympic Medalists

Greg Rutherford (Great Britain) 8.31, Mitchell Watt (Australia) 8.16, Will Claye (USA) 8.12

2015 World Championship Medalists

Greg Rutherford (Great Britain) 8.41, Fabrice Lapierre (Australia) 8.24, Jianan Wang (China) 8.18

2016 World Leaders

Jarrion Lawson (USA) 8.58, Marquise Goodwin (USA) 8.45, Marquis Denedy (USA) 8.42, [Michel Torneus (Sweden) 8.44A]

Team USA

Jeff Henderson, 27 (8.52/8.19), Jarrion Lawson, 22 (8.58/8.58), Marquis Dendy, 23 (8.42/8.42)

Great Britain’s Greg Rutherford is the defending world and Olympic champion for the long jump. He holds a personal best of 8.51 meters from 2014 and, after an 8.31m victory in Rome, has shown flashes of the form that earned him his hardware in the past. He’s certainly the favorite entering this event.

However, the US Long Jump Contingent will be one of the best we have seen in recent years. And it won’t include World #2 Marquise Goodwin or Olympic Bronze Medalist Will Claye. Leading the charge, having won the US Championship’s, is Jeff Henderson. Henderson has a PR of 8.52 in the long from 2015, but he barely cracked the top 10 in Beijing last year. At the US Champs, Henderson clocked a mammoth leap of 8.59 which would have been the world lead if it wasn’t for the wind.

In the same series, Jarrion Lawson clocked an 8.58 which, since it was marked with legal wind, will count on the all-time lists. It was one heck of a leap for the Collegiate who pulled off the 100-200-LJ triple at NCAAs and made the finals in all three events when he returned to Eugene for the Trials. Lawson is currently the world leader (he’s 20 centimeters ahead of his next closest Olympic competitor), but it is worth noting his jump was clocked in windy conditions.

The same is true for Marquis Dendy, the third US squad member. The recent Florida grad jumped his PR of 8.42 in the trials as well. However, he jumped an 8.39 in 2015 when he made his first world squad and also is the reigning indoor world champ after jumping 8.26 in Portland this past March.

This is a super talented bunch for the USA and, potentially, we could have multiple medalists on the award stand in Rio. But someone is going to have come up clutch. In last Olympics, you could medal with jumps under 8.20 meters. The same is true for last year’s world championship meet. In 2016 there have already been 17 athletes over this distance. So there are plenty of options for the medal stand. It will come down to who can perform under the bright lights.

Among the chief contenders will be Rushwal Samaai from South Africa (23 years old, 8.38 season best), Fabrice Lapierre of Australia (8.31 this May, 8.40 PR from 2010, 2015 silver medalist) and Michael Torneus of Sweden (jumped 8.44 at Altitude, but hasn’t been above 8.22 at any season prior to this).

I might be biased, but I’m thinking this will be the year for a breakthrough from the USA in the Long Jump. This used to be one of our country’s greatest events, but we really struggled in 2015. I’m banking on Henderson leading the charge with vengeance on his mind. Lawson is a huge talent, but I’m a little skeptical of those Hayward marks from the trails. Even still, 8.58 is flying so anything in that ball park would put him gold medal range. But still, I give the nod to the slightly more proven and experienced Dendy.

But I still think Rutherford gets another gold. He’s been clutch in the championships and so I’ll put my chips in with him.

1.      Rutherford, 2. Henderson, 3. Dendy