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| Germany's Sebastian Bayer celebrates after winning the men's long jump at Paris Bercy on Saturday. |
Known as ‘Germany’s Bob Beamon’ for his dazzling 8.71m European indoor record breaking leap when winning the 2009 European Indoor Championships the world of athletics has waited in expectation for Sebastian Bayer’s career to develop.
Yet up until these championships in Paris we have seen very little to excite from Aachen-born athlete for the past two seasons.
On closer examination, though, the reasons are clear as injuries have taken their toll. A stress fracture to his foot badly hampered his 2009 summer season and he was laid low with the same problem for much of the 2010 campaign.
There has been the odd glimpse of his rare talent in the intervening two years since Torino. For example, he soared out to a massive new outdoor personal best of 8.49m in Ulm to land the 2009 German title, yet all too frequently he found going beyond the eight metre mark elusive.
He even defied doctor’s orders in his desire to compete in front of his home fans at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. Understandably, given the injury issues he was suffering, he underperformed, finishing a distant 19 with a modest best of 7.98m
The 2010 campaign was a virtual write off as he was restricted him to just four outdoor competitions. He was forced to miss the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona where another German, Christian Reif, struck gold and his best for the year of 8.06m in Rieti was not how he would have envisaged his year panning out.
However, this winter under his two coaches, Joachim Schwarzmuller and Uwe Florczak, he has put in some good, consistent training. He has returned to regular competition and seen a gradual improvement in performance culminating in the successful defence of his European Indoor crown. But had he ever doubted his ability to bounce back and perform at the top championships level?
“No, I always believe in myself,” he said. “It is, of course, wonderful to be back and then win the gold medal. It is a wonderful feeling and this is why I work so hard for this moment. I came here to Paris with the big aim to win a gold medal from Torino and to do so is an even better feeling.”
Last weekend he landed the German indoor title with an 8.02m leap and he knew quietly he was rounding into good shape happy for others to milk most of the pre-competition attention.
Yet cometh the hour cometh the man and it was Bayer who dominated the final yesterday, producing the two longest jumps; a second round 8.10m backed up by an 8.16m fourth round effort. He finished a 0.13 clear of France’s Kafetien Gomis, the silver medallist, but although his winning distance was more than half a metre down on his European Indoor record he believes there was plenty to suggest a lot more to come.
“I knew I was able to jump this far, I’ve just not been able to do it in previous competitions this season,” he said. “I also had two or three good no jumps and my coach said they were very far, maybe, 8.30m-8.40m. The track is really, really fast but the board is not that good so most of the jumpers had a problem when they hit the board and it was the same with me. The board was not as hard as it should be and you don’t get the push out from the board you need to jump a long way.”
His success also capped a wonderful 24 hours for Bayer and his girlfriend Carolin Nytra. On Friday afternoon she blitzed to victory in the women’s 60m hurdles in a new lifetime best performance of 7.80 to complete the first half of what was to prove a golden double.
Not that Bayer quite achieved all of his goals for the championships following a private bet struck by the couple.
“I was supposed to jump as many centimetres over eight metres as she ran hundredths of a second under eight seconds (she ran 7.80),” he added. “So I did not win that bet.”
For the future, though, Bayer can look forward with great optimism. He plans a short holiday away with Nytra and, hopefully, with his injury problems behind him, he can look forward to a prominent showing at the World Championships in Daegu later this summer.
“In sport there are some injuries and some bad years and some good years,” said Bayer. “I just hope this year is good and the best that I have ever have had so far.”
On the evidence of what we have seen in the French capital a fit and healthy Bayer might very well be right.