Secondr Bend his torso back and stretch his hips forward. His right arm was raised, and his hand was almost in front of him. The arm shattered like a wave and dropped to the ground like a release of energy. He sprinted, flew, and landed on the beach. long jump.
He bends his torso back, arms up and down, sprinting in a curve. His two hands met briefly, a fleeting movement. Arms pressed close to the body, straight to the sky. It flew over the bar and landed on the mat. high jump.
Sprint or hurdle? Hammer or discus? Long jump or high jump? If you want to be the best person in the world, you have to make a decision. Actually. JuVaughn Harrison didn’t want to choose. As an athlete of LSU Tigers and Ladytigers, he didn’t join an American college team until recently, well. But at the Olympics? Harrison is 22 years old and 6 feet tall. He is the first athlete in 109 years to compete for the United States in these two events.
“I have no preference”
His Olympic schedule: this Friday high jump qualifying round, Saturday long jump qualifying round. High jump finals on Sunday, in Tokyo at night. The long jump final on Monday morning. “I take a shower at night and then I can sleep,” Harrison said in the podcast.
When he spoke, he seemed to have gone through all these scenes a hundred times in his mind. His eyes remained stagnant. Even for a moment, the faint light of restlessness did not brush his face. Harrison knew he was different. When asked which subject he prefers, he just smiled gently. “I have no preference. It’s like having to choose between two children.”
When he started studying at Louisiana State University in 2017, things were different. Harrison joined the track team because of his high jump performance. In order to change, he sometimes jumped far instead of high. Long jumpers are fast sprinters, and many run in relay races. The jumping and jumping techniques of the two disciplines are different. It is unusual to perfect two moves at such a high level. “As a jumper, jumping horizontally and vertically is very challenging. Staying strong in the two is a difficult task. But I know it’s possible for me — it keeps me going,” Harry Sen said.
Harrison lives on campus with pole vault world record holder Mondo Duplantis. In 2018, Duplantis and his two other roommates, hurdler Damien Thomas and hammer player Jack Norris won gold medals at the U-20 World Cup in Tampere, Finland. When interviewed at the stadium, he was wearing blue sportswear, a backpack and two gold necklaces. The corners of his mouth wrinkled, and he pursed his lips. “I didn’t make the finals,” he said after the long jump. Three days later. He licked his lips with his tongue and smiled. “This is the first time I have won a medal, and I am very happy.” Harrison jumped bronze.
Confidence booster
His coach Todd Lane joked that he could not hang his medal next to someone else’s gold medal. Lane told The Advocate, a local Louisiana newspaper, “This is a confidence booster. It proves that he can do it on the big stage.” He didn’t expect the stage to be so big: a year ago, in the first year of his study, he His performance is not stable, and his ability to do it in large meetings does not always call for heights. “It didn’t click,” Harrison said.
Athletes have been working hard for years to improve their approach, takeoff and landing. Harrison must work in parallel. Because he has mastered these two disciplines, he has been compared to sports all-rounder Jim Thorpe. Thorpe won the Pentathlon and Decathlon in Stockholm in 1912. Later he became a legendary and tragic hero of football players. After the International Olympic Committee discovered Thorpe had briefly played baseball before, he was stripped of his gold medal. Forget about celebrating its confetti parade in New York.
Two in one
Harrison is not that far yet. But he has broken some personal bests. He is the first person in history who can jump 8.40 meters and 2.30 meters. In videos on Youtube and newspapers, he is called “Mr. Jump” called. If it weren’t for him, who could bear this name?
Some jumped farther, some jumped higher, such as his old roommate Du Prantis-but no one combined the two types of jump training. So far, the national media has paid little attention to Harrison, and he has become a small phenomenon on YouTube. “This is ridiculous” is the title of a video. On the first picture of another video, a huge one: “How?!” How did he do it?
In 2019, Harrison won the high jump and long jump championships in the NCAA tournament. March of the following year: in the same hall. In mid-June, outdoors again: again. He also won championships in two disciplines in 2021. The U.S. Olympic trials will be held in June this year for the Olympic Games. On the last day, Harrison flew over the bar: eight feet, gold. Harrison jumped into the sand: eight feet, gold. Best performance in long jump. Harrison announced that he will become a professional athlete and will leave Louisiana State University. In the Olympics, he may not have a chance to win. But he was sure: “No matter what happens, I will do both.”
