After losing out on the title by one centimetre in Glasgow last year, Italy’s Mattia Furlani won long jump gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing on Sunday (23) by the same margin.
Furlani, who only turned 20 last month, leapt out to 8.30m in the second round which just about withstood the efforts of Australia’s Liam Adcock who jumped 8.28m in the second round and Jamaica’s Wayne Pinnock who improved to 8.29m on his fourth attempt.
This sealed Furlani’s first major senior title after he came away with silver or bronze medals behind Miltiadis Tentoglou - the two-time champion was sixth with 8.14m in his first competition in almost a month due to flu - in three major events in 2024, before coming away with another silver behind Bulgaria’s Bozhidar Saraboyukov at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn earlier this month.
“It’s the gold I dreamed of and wanted. After the European Indoor Championships I stayed focused, I believed until the end that I could compete among the best in the world. I did it and for me it’s incredible,” said Furlani.
“I won by one centimetre but that’s sport. I’m more than happy to have had a great race, even if there’s work to be done from a technical point of view and I can do even better, I need to have more confidence in the run-up.
“For me it’s something out of the ordinary, an honour to be the first Italian to win gold at a World Championship in the long jump but there are still many stages to go,” he added.