When Edwards arrived at Gothenburg’s Ullevi Stadium, no-one had ever jumped past 18 metres in ‘authorized’ wind situations.
Inside the first two rounds of the competitors, he had managed it twice.
He landed past the measuring board along with his opening-round bounce of 18.16m after which added one other 13cm to the document round 20 minutes later in what’s one in every of British athletics’ best performances.
He was the occasion’s type athlete that yr, arriving in Sweden because the world document holder after leaping 17.98 to beat American Willie Banks’ earlier mark by one centimetre and had additionally recorded the longest bounce in historical past of a wind-assisted 18.43m.
He has all the time described himself as a sprinter, quite than a jumper, likening his contact with the bottom by way of the hop-step-jump phases to a pebble skimming the water and at 71kg was additionally lighter than many different athletes.
He had modified his method that season, adopting a double arm motion – quite than an alternate arm motion – that he mentioned made him “so properly balanced” by way of all of his phases.
However nonetheless he was removed from assured, admitting that he purchased sun shades at Gothenburg airport to cover his eyes when he was warming up so his rivals “would not see the worry” he had.
What his rivals noticed was very completely different.
“In our coaching classes, we studied Edwards movies day in, time out,” Jerome Romain, who took the bronze medal in Gothenburg, mentioned. “It was simply outstanding the issues that he did.”
Silver medallist Brian Wellman believes Edward set the document as a result of “he was probably the most environment friendly triple jumper on the market”.
