Edwards joins select triple jump company
OREGON, USA — Michael Andre Edwards produced a brilliant World Under 20-leading 17.08m (1.1m/s) to win the men’s triple jump gold medal at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships here at Hayward Field on Friday.
Edwards, who had qualified with his first jump on Thursday, described that effort as “the worst 16.00m jump ever” and promised to make amends in the final.
Not even the confident and supremely talented 19-year-old could have predicted the performance that would ignite the crowd as he produced the winning distance in a dramatic finish.
He became the second Jamaican to win the men’s triple jump gold medal at the World Under-20 Championships after Jaydon Hibbert won in 2022 in Cali, Colombia, a year after winning silver in Nairobi, Kenya.
Edwards, who dedicated the gold medal to his late mother, said he expected to jump about 16.80m in the final but surpassed that mark to beat American Miles Nesmith, his good friend and future teammate at Kansas State University. Nesmith was second with a personal best 16.79m (1.0m/s), while China’s Zhuoyue Wang was third with 16.36m (0.9m/s).
Edwards, who came into the competition with a best jump of 16.30m, said he always knew he had a monster jump in him but was surprised that he achieved it so soon.
“It doesn’t even feel like a 17.00m jump. I am not even sure how to feel — I feel great, but I haven’t really thought about it yet. Yeah, it’s crazy. It felt normal, like it didn’t feel that big,” he said.
He also pointed to his ability to perform under pressure.
“The first medal I ever won, first gold medal I ever won, it was on my last jump, so it’s in me. I’ve been doing this, I’ve been winning with close jumps so I just pulled it out again,” he said.
Edwards was critical of his preliminary-round effort but said he knew midway through the jump that he had done something special.
“The hop was great,” he said. “The step, I could have been in a better position, but it still went forward. And my jump is always good, so when I when I was in the air I was like, ‘I know I knew it was a big jump.’ ”
In the final, he started with 13.76m (1.4m/s) before producing 16.23m (-0.3m/s) in the third round. He then moved into second place with 16.71m (0.5m/s) in the fifth round before producing his winning effort.
