In case anyone was still wondering, Luvo Manyonga is the real deal
JOHANNESBURG: There can be no doubt any more that Luvo Manyonga is the real deal after he once again produced the goods on the big stage at the Diamond League meeting in Shanghai on Saturday.
The South African landed another mammoth 8.61m jump kicking sand in the eyes of a quality field which included Olympic champion Jeff Henderson of the United States.
Henderson narrowly beat Manyonga at last year’s global showpiece in Rio de Janeiro on his last jump to wrest the gold medal from the South African phenom.
The victory over Henderson should serve as some sort of consolation for last year’s one-centimetre defeat to the American at the Rio Olympic Games.
“The track was really fast and that made it difficult and I did a few fouls, and that was a distraction,” Manyonga told the IAAF website.
“I didn’t get the distance I wanted today as I was looking for 8.80m, but I know it will come.”
Manyonga leapt to a new South African record of 8.62m at the Gauteng North Championships in Pretoria in March before extending his record by three centimetres at the national championships in Pothefstroom last month.
Manyonga is the first athlete since Ivan Pedroso (1995) and Carl Lewis (1987) to jump further than 8.60, more than three times in once season with both athletes achieving this feat five times.
The South African repeated Pedroso and Lewis’ feats of leaping over 8.60m at three consecutive meetings highlighting his class. “I am pleased to win again, my success has been down to hard work, training, dedication and commitment,” Manyonga said.“I hope now to just go on and win everything I can this season.”
Manyonga opened the competition with a new meeting record of 8.48m, before extending his lead by a centimetre on his third attempt after a no jump on his second.
Failing to record legal jumps on his fourth and fifth attempts, Manyonga unleashed the 8.61m leap for an emphatic victory.
The Chinese duo of Gao Xinglong and Huang Changzhou claimed the silver and bronze medals with jumps of 8.22m and 8.20m respectively.
Fellow South African Ruswahl Samaai finished in fifth place with a top jump of 8.18m while former national record-holder Khotso Mokoena had to be content with eight place with 7.85m.
Earlier, South African 400m hurdles record-holder LJ van Zyl earned his second Diamond League podium finish of the season winning silver in his specialist event.
Van Zyl dipped at the line in a time of 49.35 seconds behind American Bershawn Jackson, who blitzed to a meet record of 48.63. Rasmus Magi of Estonia rounded off the podium with a time of 49.38.
“I am happy with my race, the time will come, it was better than in the Doha Diamond League (where he finished third) so I am slowly but surely reaching top form,” Van Zyl said.
“I’d rather run a few 49s now than closer to the London World Championships where I hope to be in the 48s.“The fighting spirit is there, I’ve been at a cross-road earlier the season where I didn’t know which way to go but coach Hennie Kriel got me back on the right track.”