Anju leaps to 6.49m at Stockholm, wins silver

Twenty-year-old Carolina Kluft brought cheer to the home crowd with a winning leap of 6.59 metres. The Swede is theEuropean heptathlon champion and has a personal best of 6.86 metres in long jump. Concepcion Montaner of Spain finished third with 6.48 metres.

Anju’s second place has made her a strong contender for participation in the IAAF World Athletics finals in Monaco. The Monaco meet will be held on September 12 and 13. It is a grand finale to the IAAF Grand Prix programme. The Indian champion will now compete in the ISTAF Meet in Berlin on August 10.

On a day when all the jumpers performed below par, Anju had the satisfaction of making only one invalid jump. She opened with a 6.42 metres attempt and then did 6.41 metres. She improved it to 6.49 but then came the foul jump. Her last two attempts measured 6.41 and 6.36m.

Incidentally, Anju was more consistent than the winner. The Swede had three invalid jumps. She began with 6.51 metres and after two foul attempts, registered the winning leap of 6.59.