Greek athlete adds World Indoor title to his Olympic crown as Auriol Dongmo completes World and European Indoor shot put double
Miltiádis Tentóglou delivered a stunning performance at the World Indoor Championships as the Olympic long jump champion saw off his opponents with ease in Belgrade on Friday (March 18).
His jump of 8.55m – the sixth longest in history and just 24cm off Carl Lewis’ world indoor record set in 1984 – was too good for the rest of the field and was the furthest leap since Sebastian Bayer jumped 8.71m in 2009.
The fact that it was his first legal jump meant that everyone else had a lot to live up to from an early stage, in what was a unique format as for the first time at a major championships motion sensors replaced judges with flags.
It meant that athletes found out if they had fouled or not based on if the light was red or green.
“A national indoor record of 8.55m is beyond my expectation for tonight,” Tentóglou said. “The first attempt [a foul] also was really good, but there was some misunderstanding with this new system. After that I was really angry. It was too long to wait from one to another attempt due to the huge number of participants in our final.
“The only one gold medal I still miss in my own collection is from the summer world championships. I will do all possible and even impossible things to get it this summer. I have never been in the USA and I very excited to visit this country and to jump at the World Championships in Oregon.
“I also hope to set the national outdoor record this year. It’s still 8.66m from Luis Tsatumas. So, that is nearest goal.”
Tentóglou has now won an astonishing five gold long jump medals at major championships.
WORLD INDOOR CHAMPION
How good was the Olympic champion in the long jump as he went sixth on the indoor all-time list ?
? Miltiádis Tentóglou ?? (8.55m – NIR)
? Thobias Montler ?? (8.38m – NIR)
? Marquis Dendy ?? (8.27m) #WorldIndoorChamps ?? pic.twitter.com/54Te5JdRMy— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) March 18, 2022
Swede Thobias Montler was his closest competition but the double European Indoor silver medallist only managed 8.38m, still a mightily impressive jump given it was in fact second in the world in 2022 and a national indoor record.
“It feels amazing,” said Montler. “I’m so proud of both my medal and my jump. I was so nervous before that big jump. I thought that one more time I would be just off the podium so when I landed I knew it was a good jump.
“But how good! When 8.38m came up I was like ‘Oh, yes!’ This gives me more motivation to jump even better outdoors. Some day I think it’s gong to be possible to beat [Miltiádis] Tentóglou but always at the big championships he pulls out the best one. He is so mentally strong. He told me before the contest he was going to jump 8.30m plus, so he was really motivated.”
World Indoor champion from Portland 2016, Marquis Dendy, earned bronze with a best jump of 8.27m.
Dongmo dominates in the shot put
Auriol Dongmo carried on from where she left off at last weekend’s European Throwing Cup by adding a first World Indoor title to her collection.
Her best throw of 20.43m – a Portuguese Indoor record – was enough to see off American Chase Ealey, who produced a US Indoor record of her own with 20.21m.
It was the first time that both women had gone beyond 20m in their career.
Auriol Dongmo (Mark Shearman)
“I knew I was ready for this strong improvement, I was strongly prepared this winter,” Dongmo said. “Finally, I managed to show my best result at the right time and at the right place. Tonight I felt calm and was really confident.
“I have no words to describe this feeling to become the world champion, to be back on the top of the world again. This victory will motivate me even more to continue with short put on the highest level. It motivates me to work hard to reach a podium in Oregon 2022.”
Jessica Schilder won the first major medal of her career as she claimed bronze with a best throw of 19.48m.
Meanwhile, Sophie McKinna, who threw an outright personal best of 18.82m two weeks ago in Birmingham to become British shot put champion for the third time, finished eighth with 18.62m in Belgrade.
The Brit will no doubt be disappointed after telling AW in January that she was confident of breaking Venissa Head’s British indoor shot put record of 19.06m. But she equalled the best-ever performance by a British athlete in this event at the World Indoor Championships in one of the strongest finals in the event’s history.
The GB team captain said: “If you’ve had told me this time last year that I’d have come eighth at the World Indoor Championships I would probably have been bouncing of the walls. I think because my training situation has changed and I’m now training around world-class shot putters my expectations for myself have gone up considerably. So yes, I think slightly frustrated because I know I am way better than that and there’s more in the tank.
“To come off the back of a PB and then to throw close to a PB again is pretty good you know, I can’t complain too much. There’s loads more there for the outdoors so it’s kind of an exciting time for me as well.”
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