19 Apr 2010

Huge jump by Lapierre with illegal tailwind

6:45 am on 19 April 2010

Australian Fabrice Lapierre has become the sixth best long jumper in history under any conditions, producing a mighty leap of 8.78 metres in the final round of the Commonwealth Games selection trials on Sunday.

However, a 3.1m per second tailwind made the jump illegal for record purposes.

But Lapierre, the world indoor champion, was still thrilled to have produced such a massive leap.

Only Americans Mike Powell, Bob Beamon and Carl Lewis, the Soviet athlete Robert Emmiyan and Cuba's Ivan Pedroso have ever jumped further, and Pedroso's jump was also wind-assisted.

In a high-standard competition, Chris Noffke finished second, moving to fourth on the Australian alltime list with a jump of 8.33m with a legal tailwind.