The sand pit for track and field’s long jump events is pretty long. At a typical length of 30 feet, it’s built to accommodate the greatest leapers in the world.
This 19-year-old long jumped so far he almost flew out of the pit
Juan Miguel Echevarria nearly broke his legs because he ran out of landing room.
And somehow, 2018 world champion Juan Miguel Echevarria still found a way to nearly jump over the whole damn thing Sunday.
Echevarria nearly jumped his way out of the pit with the longest jump the world has seen since 1995. The 19-year-old won the competition at Stockholm’s Diamond League event by nearly a foot and a half with his epic leap, clearing nearly 29 feet (28’11.63” or 8.83 meters) to defeat the rest of a stacked field, which included 2016 Olympic long jump gold medalist Jeff Henderson.
Unfortunately for Echevarria, a strong tailwind (2.1 meters per second) means his best-ever jump doesn’t count in the official record book. Even so, it’s a ridiculous accomplishment from a budding athlete who just topped his own personal record by nearly a full foot. Echevarria jumped 8.46 meters to win the world indoor championship back in March, but had yet to win a Diamond League event, falling to second place against South Africa’s Luvo Manyonga in Rome. On Sunday, he dusted Manyonga — and Manyonga’s previous season-record 8.58 meter jump — by a wide margin.
The young Cuban’s insane leap should serve as a warning for the rest of the Diamond League’s host cities in 2018. With competitions set for Lausanne, Monaco, Birmingham, and Brussels, those tracks should get to work adding a little more sand to the back ends of their long jump pits.
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