World long jump champion Luvo Manyonga’s unbeaten outdoor streak of close to two years came to an end on Sunday thanks to an incredible effort by rising Cuban star Juan Miguel Echevarria at the Stockholm Diamond League meeting.
Manyonga’s red-flag battles continued, while the Cuban planted a mammoth, albeit marginally wind-aided jump of 8.83 metres.
The South African long jump king had to be content with third place with a best effort of 8.25m, with Olympic champion Jeff Henderson bagging silver with an 8.39m jump with a tailwind.
Compatriot Ruswahl Samaai finished in fourth place with an effort of 8.20m.
Manyonga has been battling to land his jumps over the last two meets, drawing only three green flags from 12 attempts.
😲😲😲
Juan Miguel #Echevarría surprised even himself with 8.83m in the long jump today... #RoadToTheFinal #StockholmDL pic.twitter.com/zDjkVgghkY
— IAAF Diamond League (@Diamond_League) June 10, 2018
Meanwhile, South African women’s 100m record-holder Carina Horn battled to put all her phases, together finishing sixth with a time of 11.29 seconds.
Horn finished in sixth place, with British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith taking the spoils with a winning time of 10.93.
Half-lap sprinting specialist Luxolo Adams crossed the line in 20.36 for third place in the men’s 200m.
World champion Ramil Guliyev of Turkey won the race in 19.92, with Canadian Aaron Brown taking silver in 20.07.
In a non-Diamond League race, middle-distance runner Rynhardt van Rensburg finished third in the 800m with a time of 1:45.73.
Aussies Pieter Bol and Joseph Deng finished first and second with times of 1:44.56 and 1:44.61 respectively.
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