Gerson Balde jumped a new Portuguese indoor record of 8.32m at the National Short Track Club Championships in Braga, Portugal at the weekend (14-15).
It improved his previous overall best by 16cm and is also just 4cm short of the overall record set outdoors by Carlos Calado in 1997. It also places him third in the world as the Kujawy Pomorze 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships loom (March 20-22).
He sits ahead of the two-time Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece who is in fifth, but also behind European rivals Mattia Furlani of Italy (8.39m), and Bozhidar Saraboyukov of Bulgaria (8.45m).
Nader maintains winning form
World Champion, Isaac Nader, continued his indoor season by winning the 1500m and 3000m double in Braga. Nader ran 4:04.97 and 8:11.30 to take the win in the respective events in front of the home crowd as he continues his first season as a world champion.
In the women’s long jump, the world leader, Agate de Sousa, jumped 6.69m to take the win after soaring to 6.97m in Madrid on 6 February.
The Rome 2024 European Athletics Championships bronze medallist opened her season on 25 January in Pombal with 6.84m and poses a strong challenge for a medal at Kujawy Pomorze 2026 after her consistent season so far.
Meanwhile, the multiple European medallist Auriol Dongmo improved her seasons best to 19.15m in the women's shot put with her second competition over 19 metres this year already after also opening her season in Pombal with 18.59m.
Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme took the win over 60m in 6.62, coming just shy of dipping under 6.60 in what would have been the fourth time this season after he set a seasons best of 6.53 on 8 February.
Sporting Lisbon won both the men’s and women’s national club titles after two days of competition on the 14 and 15 February which also saw many more of Portugal’s top stars compete.