SHENZHEN – Olympic Triple Jump Champpion Nélson Évora successfully defended his Universiade title he won at the 2009 Summer Universiade in Belgrade,Serbia.
“I’m in good shape, and this means I’m fit for Daegu [IAAF World Championship],” said Nélson Évora from Portugal, who won the triple jump competition of the Universiade today. His longest jump was 17,31m which is season best for Évora who got the gold medal at the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing. “It was the first time I competed after injury, so I just care about being fit, not about getting medals”, Évora said.
Victor Kuznetsov from Ukraine got second, 16,89m and Yevgenly Ektov, Kazakstan third, 16,83m.
It will be though for Évora to win the gold at the IAAF World Championship in Daegu later this month. At the 2009 IAAF World Championship in Berlin Évora got the silver. Then it was Philips Idowu from Great Britain who won. This year Idowu has only the fifth best record so it will be realy hard for Évora to win the WC, which he did in 2007 inOsaka.
But why is a professional athlete like Évora at the Universiade? “I think it is great to combine being a athlete and university student, so that is why I’m competing here in Shenzhen”, Évora said.
(Source: Thorkell Gunnar Sigurbjornsson, FISU-AIPS Young Reporter/Iceland)
Evora after his successful jump
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