Reynolds QUIRIN (02/02/2005)

Mauritius African long jump champion, Jonathan Chimier overhauled a strong field to win the Sparkassen Cup in Stuttgart, Germany.

The 22-year-old, who was tenth in the long jump final in Athens during the Olympic Games, won the event despite the presence of the best long jumpers in the world.

Chimier, Mauritius best long jumper of the decade, took the lead of the event as from his second try with an excellent 7,97 metres, not far from his indoor personal best of 8,05 metres.

But America’s Miguel Pate did the same at his fifth try and finally Jonathan Chimier won by countback against him.

"I’m quite satisfied with my performance in Stuttgart. This is the fruit of the work done with my coach, Viktor Kuzin, in the High Performance Training Centre in Dakar, Chimier said.

"But, there is still more to do before the World Championships in August in Helsinki."

Apart from winning gold at one of the most competitive Indoor Meeting of the season, Jonathan Chimier also took the ninth place in the world ranking for the Indoor long jump (as at 29th January) whose leader is Ukraine’s Viktor Kuznetsov with 8,22 metres.

The results

1. Jonathan Chimier (MRI) 7,97m
2. Miguel Pate (USA) 7,97m
3. Volodymyr Zyuskov (UKR) 7,91m
4. Walter Davis (USA) 7,83m
5. Christopher Tomlinson (GBR) 7,83m
6. Savanté Stringfellow (USA) 7,80m
7. Melvin Lister (USA) 7,75m
8. Nils Winter (GER) 7,75m
9. Christian Reif (GER) 7,60m
10. Bogdan Tarus (ROM) 7,45m
11. Peter Rapp (GER) 7,43m
12. Stefona Dacastello (ITA) 7,25m