Pichardo wins Euro indoor triple jump, Mayer in control

Cuban-born Portuguese Pedro Pablo Pichardo won the men’s triple jump at the European indoor championships in Torun yesterday.Pichardo, who won two world outdoor silvers and a world indoor bronze competing for Cuba, recorded a best of 17.30 metres.Another Cuban-born athlete who won world bronze at the 2009 Berlin worlds for his native country, Alexis Copello of Azerbaijan, claimed silver with 17.04m, Germany’s Max Hess taking a third consecutive Euro indoor bronze (17.01).Maksim Nedasekau handed Belarus their first gold of the champs in Poland after he high jumped 2.37m.Italian Gianmarco Tamberi took silver (2.35).World decathlon record holder Kevin Mayer, Euro indoor champion in Belgrade in 2017 and world indoor champ a year later in Birmingham, remained in complete control of the heptathlon.The second day of action saw the Frenchman clock 7.78sec in the opening 60m hurdles, before registering a season’s best of 5.20m in the pole vault.Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer, second behind Mayer overnight, was just four-hundredths off Mayer in the hurdles, but no-marked in the pole vault to bring a disappointing end to his campaign.With just the 1000m to complete, Mayer had amassed 5,581 points, with Spain’s Jorge Urena a distant second on 5,319.