Carl Lewis’s Year Old Record Shattered By 18-Year-Old Star

The Italian “Mr. Jump”, Mattia Furlani, creates history for the longest jump by a U-20 athlete in unusual wind conditions. Despite the wind reading being only a hair above the legal limit of 2.0 m/s, he surpassed the legendary Carl Lewis’s record set in 1980.

Furlani was born on February 7, 2005, into a family of athletes. His mother, Khadidiatou Seck, is a sprinter from Senegal, while his father, Marcello, was a high jumper who jumped 2.27m in 1985. His parents coached the emerging athlete in Rieti. Erika, Mattia’s older sister, is a 1.94-meter high jumper who won the European U23 bronze in 2017 and the world U20 silver in 2013.

Mattia Furlani’s Terrific Long Jump Progression Since His Debut in 2022

Mattia practiced long jumps at 15, clearing 2.10m. The jumper also made his national team debut in Istanbul at the European Indoor Championships on March 3, 2022. He jumped 7.57m and finished 12th in the long jump. Later, in his first outdoor long jump competition at the Italian U18 Championships in Milan in June 2022.

Furlani won two gold medals in the long jump and high jump. His winning long jump record of 8.04m is a spectacular personal best (PB) and championship record (CR).

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Furlani leaped 7.87m (+1.2) on the first day of the European Athletics U18 Championships in Jerusalem in July 2022, only his third outdoor long jump competition. He broke the previous Italian U18 record, held by Andrew Howe, set at 7.61m. At the World Athletics Championships, Cali 22, Mattia declared “This is a taste for the future.”

He competed against the reigning global U20 men’s long jump champions Erwan Konate of France, Alejandro A. Parada of Cuba, and Johnny Brackins of the United States, who have all jumped 7.95m or farther. He competed in the long jump event and qualified for the final with a jump of 7.85 meters, so close to the record holders securing the seventh position.

The young Italian champion recently created history, a new personal best, and the furthest anyone under 20 years has leaped in the long jump by clearing 8.44m (2.2 m/s) at the Memorial Giulio Ottolia in Savona.

Mr. Jump breaking records, one jump at a time

In the fourth round, Furlani also cleared a permissible distance of 8.00m (+1.7 m/s), only 4 cm short of his personal best, whereas South African Rushval Samaai finished second with 7.96m. Carl Lewis, an icon in the men’s long jumpers of all time, jumped 8.35m (2.2m/s) under the age of 20.

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Mattia Furlani emerged as the hero at the men’s long jump event, reviving the competitive contrast between the legends Mike Powell and Carl Lewis in the long jump event witnessed on August 30, 1991.

Do we now see a young athlete with the same potential of adding more incredible titles to his name?