Greek long jumper Miltiadis Tentoglou won the gold medal at the World Athletics Indoor Championships on Friday with an extraordinary jump of 8.55 meters which is the seventh-best jump in history of indoor athletics.
The 24-year-old athlete from Giannitsa, northern Greece, confirmed his status as one of the top Greek athletes of his generation with the jump that is also his personal best for indoor competitions.
It was his second attempt in the competition that takes place in Belgrade, Serbia.
Tentoglou jumped an indoor personal-best 8.55 meters in the second round to establish an insurmountable lead. This jump is a world-leading one this year and the 6th best indoors all-time; the world indoors record, 8.79 meters, is held by Carl Lewis since January 1984.
Tentoglou came close in his 6th and final jump, with an 8.51 effort. In second place was Sweden’s Thobias Montler with 8.38, also a national record, and Marquis Dendi of the US (8.27) won the bronze.
The fact that the championships take place in Belgrade, allowed several Tentoglou fans from his northern Greek home town of Grevena, including his grandfather, to make the 7-8 hour drive with a chartered bus.
Tentoglou has also won gold in last year’s Tokyo Olympics, the 2018 European (outdoor) Championships and the 2019 and 2021 European Indoors.
He moves to sixth on the world indoor list, ahead of Robert Emmiyan
