Athletics-Perez Hernandez caps great year with triple jump gold

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By Mitch Phillips

TOKYO (Reuters) – Hot favourite Leyanis Perez Hernandez of Cuba took a dominant victory in the women’s triple jump on Thursday while Yulimar Rojas, winner of the last four world titles, claimed a remarkable bronze in her first competition for two years.

Perez Hernandez has been the form jumper all season and laid down a marker with a 14.85 first effort – only her own 14.93 in March was longer by anyone this year. She improved to 14.90 in the third round and 14.94 in the fourth, which she matched in the sixth to complete a remarkable series.

“I came to have a good series, to be consistent,” said Perez Hernandez, who certainly delivered on that front, if not on her other goal to hit 15 metres.

“This is an incredible year for me with both the world indoor and outdoor gold and I am so happy to have Yulimar Rojas back and to have her on the podium.”

Venezuela’s Tokyo Olympic champion Rojas also started impressively, all the more so as it was her first final after two injury-ravaged years, with 14.76. That was looking good enough for silver until the final round, when Thea Lafond went past her with 14.89.

“I’m very emotional, with mixed feelings,” Rojas said. “It was a blessing for me to be back after the past two years were so difficult. I’m very proud of that and it’s a victory for me.

“I’m back on the podium but I wanted more, I feel deep inside that I could have done way better. But this is sport.”

Lafond, who claimed Dominica’s first Olympic medal when she won the Olympic title last year and followed up with the world indoor crown, became the country’s first female world athletics medal winner with the silver.

(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Ed Osmond)