Fabrice Lapierre sets Australian indoor long jump record
Mar 12, 2010 | Track and Field
March 12, 2010
DOHA, QATAR - In long jump qualification at the World Indoor Championships on Friday, Texas A&M grad Fabrice Lapierre broke the Australian record with a mark of 26-10.5 (8.19).
As the current Aggies start the NCAA Indoor Championships today in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the World Indoor Championships are also taking place this weekend.
Lapierre, a two-time World Athletics Final champion, led the qualifying group with his record leap. The only other automatic qualifier to the final was fellow Australian Michael Watt, who landed on the automatic mark of 26-3 (8.00).
The previous indoor record for Australia was a 26-7.25 (8.11) mark set by two jumpers. Glenn Carroll first set the record on March 2, 1990 in Flagstaff, Arizona. Peter Burge equaled the record on March 4, 2001 in Sindelfingen, Germany, and again on March 11, 2001 at the World Indoors in Lisbon, Portugal.
Lapierre's previous indoor best was 26-4.5 (8.04) set in Fayetteville, Arkansas, during the NCAA Championships on March 10, 2006 when he earned a silver medal.
Four other jumpers advanced out of Lapierre's group while two more advanced out of the group Watt competed in during qualification.
Lapierre and Watt could become Australia's first ever medalist in the long jump at the World Indoors. The previous best placing was fourth by Burge in 2001, when he equaled the Australian record a second time.
"I will go harder and risk more," Lapierre said of Saturday's final. "I can jump further than I did today."
Among the jumpers not advancing to the final were Panama's Irving Saladino (25-7.25 - 7.80), the Beijing Olympic Champion, Christopher Tomlinson of Great Britain (25-5.25 - 7.75), the 2008 World Indoor silver medalist, and France's Kafetein Gomis (25-8.75 - 7.84), who has placed fourth at the past two European Indoor Championships.
