Wang Jianan in action during the men's long jump final of the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary on Aug. 24, 2023. (Xinhua/Meng Dingbo)
China's Wang Jianan rued his failure to defend his long jump title at the World Athletics Championships.
BUDAPEST, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- China's long jumper Wang Jianan blamed his "conservative mindset" for his failure to defend his title at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
Wang produced his best jump of Thursday's final in the first round - a leap of 8.05 meters, well short of his personal best of 8.47m. That was also far behind his winning jump of 8.36m at last year's World Championships in Eugene, United States.
"I feared getting injured, so I didn't hit my best form," Wang said afterwards.
"I was rather conservative mentally. My muscles were tight. I didn't give it my all for fear of thigh cramps. I was hesitant with each jump."
Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece won the gold as his final leap of 8.52m edged him ahead of Wayne Pinnock of Jamaica, who took the silver with 8.50m.
Despite his below-par performance in the final, Wang met the qualification standard for the Paris Olympics with his last jump of 8.34m in the qualification round.
"[Qualifying for Paris 2024] was my primary goal for coming here," said the 26-year-old. "It's good to have qualified, so I won't have to think about this and I can focus on preparations for the Olympics."
With less than one month before the Hangzhou Asian Games open, Wang said he was hoping to show better form at the continental showpiece.
"I won't take the Asian Games for granted, as long jumpers from Chinese Taipei and India are very competitive," he said. ■
