Sheryf El-Sheryf astonishes in triple jump with 17.72 gold-medal performance

Who needs Teddy Tamgho? The high-profile Frenchman sadly pulled out of the European Athletics U23 Championships triple jump after injuring himself warming up, but Sheryf El-Sheryf of Ukraine was a more than suitable substitute when he bounded down the runway to land in the sand at a breathtaking 17.72 for gold.

That is the second best performance of the year after Tamgho outdoors and puts El-Sheryf firmly amongst the candidates for gold in Daegu. It was achieved in the last round when he already had the competition won. There was a following wind of 1.3mps.

Considering his best coming into Ostrava was a mere 16.92 his performance was nothing short of remarkable.

But the manner of its execution will stay in the memory for a long time as the Ukrainian floated effortlessly through the phases with perfect balance.

Silver went to Aleksey Fyodorov and bronze to fellow Russian, Yuriy Kovalyov with 16.85 and 16.82.

'Today it was my day,' said the Ukrainian. 'I felt very good. I have been training for this result for last three years.

'Without Teddy Tamgho the competition was not so interesting. I was so sorry because he is my friend and we have been competing together for already five years. I am looking forward to Korea and I would really like to win a medal there.'

'I lost after a great struggle but I am satisfied,' said the silver medallist.

'I am very happy about the fact that I could compete without any medical problems.

'Four weeks ago I had my thigh injured and I have to thank to my coach for being able to compete again.'

'I believed in myself to jump over 17 metres, because I had already managed to jump that far this year,' said Kovalyov. 'I had some problems with my technique, though, so I am satisfied with the third place.'