tokyo 2020 olympics

Tentoglou trumps Echevarria to win Olympic long jump thriller

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The Cubans passed on their latter jumps, and it cost them

JuVaughn Harrison, who doubled up in Tokyo, finishing seventh in Sunday's high jump final, finished fifth in the long jump with a leap of 8.15.

No American has tried to double the high-jump and long-jump in over a century, not since the great Jim Thorpe in 1912

It is not unusual for track and field athletes to compete in multiple events. Long-distance runners will try the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters, for example. Long jumpers will also try the triple jump, or the 100-meter dash. But in almost every case, the events usually require similar skills and draw from similar training.

Harrison's double is different — and much more rare because of it.

While the high jump and long jump might seem similar on their face — jumping is jumping, right? — the techniques in each event barely overlap. High jumpers must master a technique known as "the Fosbury Flop," in which they leap backwards over a bar. Long jumpers must build up a lot of speed on a long runway, then throw themselves forward into the sand pit.

The movements are so varied that each event requires a different type of shoe.

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