German robs Willie Banks of M45 record in the TJ
Would someone please let Willie Banks know that it’s time to strap on the old spikes again? From the masterstf mailing list on Yahoo Groups comes this Annette Koop news flash: “Today Wolfgang Knabe (*1959, OSC Damme, Germany) jumped 15,13m (W.: +0,2) at Garbsen near Hanover (GER). That’s a new M45 triple jump world record (til now Willie Banks, USA, 14,55m).â€
15.13 is 49-7 3/4. Incredible jump for a middle-aged man.
And a week before his big jump, Wolfgang apparently called his shot. Indeed, he may already have broken Willie’s record with a 14.70 (48-2 3/4) before today’s bomb.
But Wolfgang is far from being some unknown. WK telegraphed his goals by winning M40 TJ gold at the 1999 and 2001 WMA world meets.
Born July 12, 1959 in West Germany (FRG), Wolfgang has a PR of 17.12 (56-2) set in Düsseldorf in 1988.
Willie’s mark was 47-9, set in 2001 and described here.
Here’s an interview snippet from April 2003:
AL: In 2001 you made a bit of a comeback, jumping 14.55m to break the M45 outdoor WR. An hour and a half later, you high-jumped 1.80m before failing three times at 1.85m. Does this mean you’ll continue to compete for another few years?
WB: I will break the M45 this year jumping over 15.00m. I intend to beat all women jumpers and break the womens world record. I am 47 years old but I feel very good. My achilles stopped hurting me after 14 years of sheer agony. I have been training regularly. When I broke the world record of 14.55m, I trained for 2 weeks. This time I think I am ready to jump.
This last week I have had a little soreness in my knee but I am not going to let that stop me. I have already applied for the World Masters Championship in Peurto Rico and I plan to be the World Champ. I am looking for some competition so I challenge anyone to come get me!!!
Willie, you’ve been got.
If he wants the record back, though, he has to hop to it. Time is running out. He turns 50 in March 2006.
One Response
Good luck to all the triplejumpers of the world, but I would strongly encourage the revision of the headline, “German robs Willie Banks of M45 record in the TJ”.
Nobody robbed anyone. In the media arena this is known as a headline that exceeds the story. At least it didn’t rely on an anonymous source.
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