The men's long jump is set to be one of the highest-quality competitions of Birmingham 2026, bringing together the reigning Olympic, world, European, European indoor and world indoor champions in a stacked field packed with proven medal winners.
Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou may start as favourite to retain his title, but reigning world champion Mattia Furlani, world indoor champion Gerson Baldé and reigning European indoor champion Bozhidar Sarâboyukov all arrive as significant threats.
Add world indoor heptathlon champion and heptathlon world record-holder Simon Ehammer to the mix, and Birmingham promises a contest worthy of a global final.
European record – Robert Emmiyan (URS/ARM) 8.86m
European lead – Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE) 8.66m
Championship record – Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE) 8.65m
Rome 2024 medallists
- Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE) 8.65m
- Mattia Furlani (ITA) 8.38m
- Simon Ehammer (SUI) 8.31m
Five names to watch:
- Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE)
- Mattia Furlani (ITA)
- Simon Ehammer (SUI)
- Bozhidar Sarâboyukov (BUL)
- Gerson Baldé (POR)
When Italy’s Mattia Furlani became the youngest ever world champion in Tokyo last September at the age of 20, many wondered if this marked the changing of the guard in the men’s long jump.
However, rumours of three-time European champion Miltiadis Tentoglou’s demise have been greatly exaggerated as the 28-year-old arrives in Birmingham quite possibly in his very best form.
In recent weeks, Tentoglou defeated all of his main rivals with a world leading leap of 8.61m for victory in the Monaco Diamond League before improving his world lead and lifetime best to 8.66m at the Greek Championships to equal Louis Tsatoumas’ national record.
Tentoglou, who is also a two-time Olympic champion, is a redoubtable championship performer and if he retains his long jump title in Birmingham, he will emulate Germany’s Heike Drechsler who won four successive European long jump titles between 1986 and 1998.
Incidentally, Drechsler was raking the pit for the men’s long jump final at the 2018 European Athletics Championships in Berlin where Tentoglou’s reign in the event began.
Tentoglou will face one of the strongest fields of the entire championships with five of the six best long jumpers on the 2026 world list all hailing from Europe.
Based on recent form, the biggest threat to Tentoglou could come from the precocious Bulgarian Bozhidar Saraboyukov who won the European indoor title in Apeldoorn last March, defeating world champion Furlani in the process.
Like Tentoglou, Saraboyukov seems to be gauging his peak just in time for Birmingham. In recent weeks, he has jumped 8.36m in Monaco followed by marks of 8.49m and 8.48m on home soil in Plovdiv and Sofia respectively to climb into the European all-time top-10.
By contrast, there are concerns regarding the form and fitness of world champion Furlani as well as Switzerland’s world indoor heptathlon champion Simon Ehammer, both of whom retired mid-competition in the de facto dress rehearsal for Birmingham in Monaco.
This was Furlani’s first and only competition back since sustaining a thigh injury in the Xiamen Diamond League in May when he left the arena on a stretcher while Ehammer also hasn’t competed since then due to a hamstring injury.
Or can Portugal’s Gerson Baldé rip up the script for the second time in a major championship this year? Balde emerged from below the radar to win the world indoor title in March, jumping a lifetime best of 8.46m to shock a field which included Furlani, Saraboyukov and Tentoglou.
Baldé has ‘only’ jumped 8.20m outdoors this year although he was credited with a wind-assisted 8.42m in his most recent competition at the Portuguese Championships in Lisbon.
Other names who broke through at their national championships at the end of July were Germany’s Simon Batz and Italy’s Francesco Inzoli who set lifetime bests of 8.29m and 8.27m respectively to win their country’s respective national titles.
Also watch out for 19-year-old Serbian Luka Bosković who has improved to 8.23m this year. Boskovic, who is coached by Dragutin Topić, finished second at the Balkan Championships earlier this summer behind Tentoglou but ahead of Saraboyukov.
In total, 31 Europeans have surpassed the eight metre-barrier in 2026.