Teen long jumper Lin Ming-fu vows to smash Hong Kong record after making history at World Athletics U20 Championships
- Wild card Lin, 18, qualifies for field event finals in Colombia having only taken up long-jumping 10 months ago
- Former 100m sprinter’s next goal is to break Hong Kong U20 record of 7.73m, set in 2014
Teenager Lin Ming-fu made history as the first Hong Kong long-jumper to qualify for the World Athletics U20 Championships field event finals in Colombia on Tuesday – and he is looking to smash the city’s record next month.
The 18-year-old former sprinter – who only took up the event 10 months ago – made it to Cali with a wild card, where all of the world’s top juniors were vying for the title, including defending champion Erwan Konate of France.
Despite suffering from jet lag after arriving two days before the meet, Lin placed eighth out of 24 athletes in Monday’s qualifiers, with a personal best of 7.54 metres on his second leap and 7.62m on his third.
That secured his progression to the finals, where he jumped 7.36m, 7.57m, and 7.38m, putting him in ninth place – just one spot outside the top 8, who were given three more leaps.
Frenchman Konate successfully defended his championship with a leap of 8.08m, while Cuban Alejandro A Parada and Brazilian Gabriel Luiz Boza finished second and third with jump of 7.91m and 7.90m, respectively.
“Though getting into the finals was within my expectations, it is still rather dramatic,” said Lin.
