Italy’s Andy Diaz Hernandez secured the first gold medal of the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 25 in style, soaring to a world lead and national record of 17.80m in the first round of the contest on Friday.
As well as moving him to fifth on the world indoor all-time list, the mark is the third-farthest leap in World Indoor Championships history and the farthest since the 17.90m – then a world indoor record – achieved by Teddy Tamgho at the 2010 edition in Doha.
While Diaz Hernandez was unable to get close to that opening leap throughout the rest of the competition, neither could any of his rivals and he comfortable clinched the first global crown of his career, a World Athletics report said.
China’s Zhu Yaming leapt 17.33m to secure the silver, while Burkina Faso’s defending champion Hugues Fabrice Zango jumped 17.15m to bag bronze during the opening session of action in Nanjing’s Cube.
Diaz Hernandez started as the favourite thanks to the then world lead of 17.71m he set to win the European indoor title in Apeldoorn earlier this month.
After his sensational start, the Olympic bronze medallist fouled in the second round before deciding not to take his third, fourth and fifth attempts.
In the meantime, Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Zhu delighted the home fans by jumping a season’s best in round three, that 17.33m moving him into silver medal position ahead of Brazil’s Almir Dos Santos (17.22m) and China’s Su Wen (17.09m).
Jamaica’s Jordan Scott moved closer to the medals in the fourth round, jumping 17.10m, but then Zango pushed Scott down a place by jumping a season’s best of 17.15m in round five, placing him fourth.
There were no improvements in the sixth and final round, so Zhu was confirmed as the silver medallist. Dos Santos finished in bronze medal position but was later disqualified for not complying with the shoe rules, which moved Zango on to the podium.
After passing the previous few rounds, Diaz Hernandez returned to the runway to take one final attempt but ran through, satisfied with his winning performance from his single valid jump of the competition.
“My plan was never to jump only once. There was a very long wait in between jumps, so I was quite inactive for too long and this led to the decision of skipping the following attempts,” said Diaz Hernandez, who is coached by Fabrizio Donato, the 2012 Olympic bronze medallist, out of their base in Rome. “But, I feel strong, and this is indicative that good jumps could happen this summer.”
Zhu said: “To be able to win a medal at home, at such a high level competition, it means a lot and this was not an easy thing to do, I was carrying some injury into this meet. I had some trouble with my heel, and I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to complete the competition.”
With his bronze medal win, Zango becomes a six-time global medallist, following his world indoor title win in Glasgow in 2024, world gold in 2023, silver in 2022 and bronze in 2019, as well as his Olympic bronze from Tokyo.
