2011 World Champs/Daegu: Day Nine, Session 2: UPSET: Christian Taylor Wins TJ in 17.96m, Phillips Idowu takes silver, Will Claye takes bronze, by Larry EderIn fi

Christian Taylor, 2011 WC gold medalist, TJ (from 2011 USA Champs), photo by PhotoRun.net

The Triple Jump is one of those activities that requires an appreciation of the technical nature of the event. It is also terribly hard on the body, and practitioners can attest.

The battle for the top three positions changed several times.

Phillips Idowu, 2011 WC silver medalist, TJ, (photo from 2010 AVIVA Gateshead), photo by PhotoRun.net

Phillips Idowu, the defending champion, took the lead on his first jump, hitting 17.56m. Neslon Evora of Cuba took over second on his first jump with 17.35m. Christiaan Olsson of Sweden hit 17.23 on his first jump, putting him into third.

On his third attempt, Christian Taylor put himself into second place with his 17.40m jump. On his third attempt, Will Claye put himself into second place with his 17.50m jump. Benjamin Compaore of France also improved on third attempt, hitting 17.17, which put him into eighth place.

On their fourth attempts, Christian Taylor let it fly, as he hit 17.96m, catapulting him from third to first. Phillips Idowu followed up with 17.77m, one of his best jumps ever, but placing him in second. Alexis Copello of Cuba had a very large jump, but fouled.

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Will Claye, 2011 WC Champs, bronze medalist, TJ, photo by PhotoRun.net

On their fifth attempts, only Alexis Copello of Cuba improved, to 17.47m, giving him fourth place.

In the sixth round, Phillips Idowu jumped 17.47m, but could not overtake Christian Taylor.

Christian Taylor, USA, took the gold medal with his 17.96m jump, the world leader. Phillips Idowu of Great Britain, took the silver in 17.77, his seasonal best. Will Claye, also of the USA, took the bronze in 17.50m, his personal best.

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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