After an intense face-off with Italy’s Mattia Furlani, the Greek long jump champion Miltiadis Tentoglou successfully retained his world indoor long jump title.
The reigning Olympic, world and European outdoors long jump champion Tentoglou competed on Saturday morning, March 2 in Glasgow, when he and Furlani jumped 8.22 metres during the competition.
European Athletics revealed that neither of the men went further, however Tentoglou remained steady in first place for the rest of the competition, except very briefly for less than a minute in the fourth round, by virtue of having a better second jump.
This led to a $40,000 prize cheque for Tentoglou and a gold medal. However, he had mixed feelings about his performance.
Long live the long jump king 👑
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) March 2, 2024
🇬🇷's Miltiadis Tentoglou defends his long jump title after a nail-biting battle with 🇮🇹's Mattia Furlani 🤯
8.22m for the gold medal.#WorldIndoorChamps pic.twitter.com/3YumcRQI5x
“I jumped terrible. I was lucky to win so I am just a lucky guy. It was very close, but I hope everyone had some fun today. At least it was exciting in the end,” Tentoglou said.
“However, this track is one of my favourite ones so that was good, similar as in Budapest I guess.”
Miltiadis Tentoglou has now been named unbeaten in 13 indoor competitions, and his winning streak extends back more than two years to February 2022.
He will next compete at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships.
Source: European Athletics.
