Triple jumper Hugues Fabrice Zango first to go beyond 18 metres indoors
- Published
Zango won world bronze in Doha last year
Burkina Faso's Hugues Fabrice Zango became the first athlete to triple jump over 18 metres indoors with a 18.07m effort in Aubiere, France.
The 27-year-old's effort breaks the 17.92m indoor world record set by his French coach Teddy Tamgho in 2011.
Zango, who won world bronze behind the USA's Christian Taylor and Will Claye in 2019, hopes to win his country's first Olympic medal in Tokyo this year.
Zango combines his sport with studying electrical engineering at university.
He is based at a university in Bethune, close to Lille, in northern France.
Britain's Jonathan Edwards holds the outdoor triple jump world record with a leap of 18.29m in Gothenburg in 1995.
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Tamgho tweeted that "we knew the record must fall" after Zango's jump, adding "now we go back to work because we must not stop there".
Zango's current outdoor best is 17.66m set in 2019. His coach Tamgho is one of only six men, including Edwards, Taylor and Claye, to jump over 18 metres outdoors.
"It means a lot for me because since last year I have been thinking about this record, because it was my coach's record," Zango told BBC Sport Africa's Victoire Eyoum.
"For me the athlete has to beat the coach. We were teasing each other about the record.
"It gives me more confidence about my power and my abilities to do great things in the future. Yesterday the objective was to go to the Olympics and get a medal, but now the goal is to go to the Olympics and get the gold medal."
Remembering an icon: Hear how David Bowie always managed to stay ahead of his time
Need a lift?: Joe Wicks and guests are here to bring positivity to your day
