The 28-year-old gambled on changing her technique this winter and it paid off at the European Indoor Champs with an emotional victory with 7.00m<\/h5>\n
You will struggle to find a more popular gold medallist in Istanbul this weekend than Jazmin Saywers. The 28-year-old long jumper captured the first major senior title of her career at the European Indoor Championships. She did it in style, too, with a British indoor record of 7.00m.<\/p>\n
Competing on the final night of the four-day event, the Stoke athlete beat Larissa Iapichino of Italy by three centimetres with Ivana Vuleta of Serbia third with 6.91m and Mailaka Mihambo of Germany fourth with 6.83m.<\/p>\n
This was not a soft competition either. Mihambo is the reigning Olympic and world champion; Vuleta is a two-time world indoor and three-time European indoor gold medallist; while Iapichino is the daughter of former English Schools and two-time world champion Fiona May and the 20-year-old jumped an Italian record for silver.<\/p>\n
Plus, as Sawyers said in emotional post-event interviews, seven metres is serious long jumping. Indeed, the only Brits who have ever jumped further outdoors are Shara Proctor with 7.07m and Lorraine Ugen with 7.05m.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeven metres it the goal for most female long jumpers,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve been looking for a seven-metre jump for what seems like forever.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt almost doesn\u2019t quite feel real. I\u2019ve been expecting it for years but just didn\u2019t expect it to happen tonight. It feels like all the belief that I had in myself was justified. I have proved my younger self right. I\u2019m so proud of myself right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jazmin Sawyers (Getty)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
So how did she do it? For starters this was a magnificent medal moment waiting to happen. Apart from a brief foray into bobsleigh \u2013 plus a singing appearance on The Voice six years ago \u2013 Sawyers has been charging down the runway and landing into sand for many years and has turned into one of Britain\u2019s most reliable and consistent elite performers lately.<\/p>\n
Last summer she won bronze at the European Championships in Munich. She has also finished eighth at the last two Olympics.<\/p>\n
The Aston Moore-coached athlete has also taken apart her technique this winter and tweaked it significantly. \u201cI completely changed it this year. I was having an issue with over-rotation and I\u2019ve been having it for years. And we tried to fix it by having me sort of stop in the air as I take off.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that\u2019s so hard and then to pause so instead we added an extra hitch so I\u2019m doing a two-and-a-half hitch which is not a typical technique for women but it turns out it feels a lot more natural than one-and-a-half ever did. I\u2019ve been thinking about it and experimenting with it for a few years but this year we decided to really go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just as importantly, she adds: \u201cThings are just good. I\u2019m happy. I\u2019m enjoying training. I\u2019m enjoying my group. I\u2019m having a really nice time. I\u2019ve always said that makes such a difference and it\u2019s working out really well for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Jaz-and-Keely-750x442.jpg\")
<\/p>\nJazmin Saywers and Keely Hodgkinson (Getty)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Being captain of the British team at these championships helped inspired her to new heights too. And she rose to the occasion magnificently with a victory that coincided with Keely Hodgkinson\u2019s 800m win on the same night.<\/p>\n
Sawyers leapt 6.70m in the first round and then 6.76m in the fourth but it was the fifth where she produced the pyrotechnics with a 7.00m mark that seemed to take an age before it flashed up on the board. By the sixth round she had sealed gold and leap out to 6.84m before literally jumping for joy in front of the British fans who had travelled to the Atak\u00f6y Athletics Arena to support the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t the end of it,\u201d she added. \u201cThis is just the European Indoor Champs. We\u2019ve got so much more to do in the next couple of years but I\u2019m just going to soak in this for a sec.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a new technique and into the summer, what can Sawyers do now with a gentle tailwind? Now that\u2019s an exciting thought.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI\u2019ve proved my younger self right and I\u2019m so proud.\u201d @JazminSawyers<\/a> on the greatest moment of her career as she claimed Euro Indoor long jump gold with an astonishing 7.00m jump \ud83d\udd25<\/p>\n
That was a British Indoor Record \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 <\/p>\n
\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f @TimAdams76<\/a> #Istanbul2023<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/52D4g9aIuQ<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 AW (@AthleticsWeekly) March 5, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u00bb <\/b><\/span>More coverage from Istanbul 2023 here<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n
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