Long jumper increases world record
Only eight people ever flew further than Markus Rehm
6/26/2023 1:36 p.m
Markus Rehm underlines his ambitions for the Para Athletics World Championships in Paris. The five-time long jump world champion sails 8.72 meters – a new personal best, a new world record. The 34-year-old is getting closer and closer to the mark of the legendary Mike Powell.
Paralympic champion Markus Rehm has again improved his world record in the long jump. The 34-year-old jumped 8.72 meters in the last attempt at the meeting in Rhede and improved the record he set just five weeks ago in Barcelona by eight centimetres. In May he landed in Catalonia at 8.64 meters, two centimeters further than his previous record from the EM 2021 in Bydgoszcz / Poland.
In history, only eight athletes without impairment jumped further than the prosthesis jumper, where Mike Powell holds the 8.95 meters world record. The longest jump of a German was achieved by Sebastian Bayer in 2009 at the European Indoor Championships in Turin with 8.71 meters, the outdoor record is held by Lutz Dombrowski, who won Olympic gold for the GDR in 1980 with 8.54 meters.
Strong team for World Cup in Paris
“It’s great,” said Rehm: “The competition got off to a great start at 8.53 meters. That was the best distance I’ve ever had on my first attempt. It got a bit difficult in between. But I knew that the last one My attempt is. I’ve broken records many times – and it was the same today. I’m really happy.” This means that the man from Leverkusen is well prepared for the upcoming World Championships in Paris (July 8th to 17th).
The seven-time world champion Rehm – five times in the long jump, twice in the 4×100 meter relay – leads the squad of German para-athletes for the World Cup. The German Disabled Sports Association (DBS) is sending a total of 27 athletes and two guides to the start of the title fights from July 8th to 17th.
In addition to Rehm, the team includes other Paralympic winners in Johannes Floors, Felix Streng, Niko Kappel and Sebastian Dietz. Irmgard Bensusan and Leon Schäfer will compete in the Charlety Stadium as the defending champions, while eleven World Cup debutants will compete for the top talents including wheelchair racer Merle Menje and shot putter Yannis Fischer, who improved his own German record by one centimeter to 11.20 meters on Sunday the start.
The World Championships are a kind of dress rehearsal for the Paralympics in the same place from August 28 to September 8, 2024. Rio champion Daniel Scheil and three-time Paralympics winner Martina Willing (both not a norm) are missing some established forces in the squad.