FILE–Philippines’ long jumper Janry Ubas. REUTERS/Jeremy Lee
Janry Ubas boosted his stock for the World Athletics Championships by pocketing the gold medal in men’s long jump at the Motonet Grand Prix Lappeenranta in Finland.
The Southeast Asian Games long jump king ruled the event after no other attempt from the field bettered his 7.86-meter jump in his second try.
Finland’s Kasperi Vehmaa bagged the silver in 7.75m and Australia’s Zane Branco placed third (7.70m) among 10 participants.
The victory of Ubas rewarded the 29-year-old from Misamis Oriental 60 world ranking points after receiving 90 points for placing seventh at the recent 25th Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.
Ubas, the SEA Games champion and record-holder at 8.08m, is now ranked No. 53 in the world with 1160 points in his bid to join pole vaulter EJ Obiena and women’s 400m hurdler Robyn Brown in the coming world championships in Budapest, Hungary on Aug. 19-27.
The Motonet GP is a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze-rated event.
With coach Dario Da Rosas guiding him, two more World Athletics-rated meets are listed on the itinerary of Ubas in Trieste, Italy on Saturday and Stuttgart, Germany on July 29, a day before the qualification window for the world championships closes.