Shalin jumps into the spotlight
24.06.2010
Russia’s Pavel Shalin has made a startling impact on the Long Jump in just a few weeks, not least because his victory at the 2010 SPAR European Team Championships last weekend also helped his country to become the champions of Europe.
Before the start of this month, few athletics fans outside of Russia would have known his name but now a lot more know across Europe know who he is, and he will go to the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona next month as a serious medal contender.
Having a previous best of 7.39m indoors to his name, this winter the 22-year-old Shalin sailed out to 7.92m but he really made people sit up when he broke the eight-metre barrier in emphatic fashion and jumped 8.25m at the Moscow Championships on June 6.
He then proved that his effort in Moscow was no fluke, took his form from in front of a few hundred spectators into the international arena, and produced a winning leap of 8.26m in Bergen on Saturday, albeit with a following win of 2.5mps which rendered it illegal for any record purposes.
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