Rain, erratic winds hamper Banks in 50-at-50 bid
Willie Banks was disappointed today in Sendai, Japan, fouling four of his six jumps at the Japanese masters nationals and falling short of his ultra-ambitious goal to put the M50 triple jump record out of sight. He writes: “Unfortunately, I did not have a good run-up and fouled most of my jumps, (something that I never did when I was jumping as a youngster). I wound up with the following series: X, X, 12m97, 13m31, X, X (they measured this one for me 14m23). The weather was rain and the wind was back and forth around -1 to +2.5m/s.” His legal jumps were 42-6 1/2 and 43-8 — with his long foul at 46-8. So Stig Backlund’s 1990 WR of 14.07 is safe for the moment.
But Willie has hope, writing:
“I might get a chance to compete against the open athletes at the Yokohama Grand Prix meet next Sunday! I will break the record there instead ;-)”
That would be a kick! A world record on the world stage.
I hope meet organizers let him — for old times’ sake.
