GLASGOW, Scotland — Miltiadis Tentoglou threatened to quit the long jump shortly after winning the world indoor title on Saturday, saying he would change the events if the sport implements a rule change aimed at eliminating fault jumps.
The amendment proposed by World Athletics involves introducing a take-off zone where jumps would be measured from an athlete's take-off position to landing position, eliminating failed jumps to make the event more attractive to fans.
“I consider the long jump to be one of the most difficult events because of the board and the precision that is needed,” Tentoglou told reporters. “You need to run like a sprinter, hit the board perfectly – this is the difficult part of the long jump. The jump itself is easy. The difficult part is the running.
“So if they want to eliminate this, the long jump would be the easiest test,” he added. “If that happens, I won't long jump anymore. I'll be a triple jumper.”
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said Thursday at the World Cup opening news conference that changes like the long jump are needed to keep pace with the changing interests of spectators and sponsors.
“The holy grail of all sport is to remain outstanding, interesting and exciting to young people. We can't have any ears in their direction,” Coe said. “We have to recognize that the way people consume sport – the way they consume entertainment – is different than it was three years ago.”
Tentoglou, 25, is also the reigning Olympic and world outdoor champion. He and 19-year-old Italian Mattia Furlani jumped 8.22 meters (26.97 feet) in Glasgow, with the Greek jumper taking gold in the jump-off due to his second-best jump.
“It was very close. I hope everyone had a little fun today, at least in the end it was exciting,” Tentoglou said.
Furlani, whose silver was his first world medal, flew toward what appeared to be the winning jump on his sixth and final attempt, but the red flag was raised to signal a foul because he went over the take-off board.
Under the proposed amendment, he probably would have won the gold medal, but Furlani was not too disappointed.
“Wow, what a great day. I'm very excited because it's my first steps on the world stage,” he said. “I have time now [in my career] to improve my speed and power. But I'm very excited to have done this.”
Carey McLeod of Jamaica won bronze with 8.21 meters.
A third of all jumps at the 2023 world outdoor championships were without jumps, prompting World Athletics to look for ways to change the rules.
