Editor’s note: The women’s long jump has been an incredibly exciting event this season worldwide. The European Athletics Championships and the Commonwealth Games preceded the Ultimate Games on this year’s global schedule. This is Stuart Weir’s second of 11 pieces on the Ultimate Championships. Stuart has observed these fine long jumpers across the continent for many years! Thanks, Stuart!
A tale of two long-jumpers
The World Ultimate Games in Budapest featured an exciting women’s long-jump competition, but it was of course poorer for the absence of Tara Davis-Woodhall due to a road accident. However, the evening was a success for two other long-jumpers. Larissa Iapichino (Italy) won with 6.90 on a cold Hungarian evening. It has been a good season for Larissa, who followed a second place at the World Indoors (6.87) with a win at the European Championships (7.00) and second place at last week’s Diamond League Final (6.86).
She said of her win: “This is amazing. I am adding a new title to my family, and I’m really happy to win on my first attempt. The whole competition was so cool – having the attention for us long jumpers is always important, so the atmosphere was great and the crowd was amazing. I love the pink sand. Can we have it more often? I’m going to take a month-long vacation now. It is really important to take time for yourself, to have fun with your friends, to do something else, and to experience new things – it is important for your mental health. I have a lot of spheres: sometimes I am an athlete, sometimes I am just Larissa, sometimes I am a law student, sometimes I do something for fashion. I just enjoy everything at the same time, so time management is the key, and I’m really good at time management.”
In second place was Jazmin Sawyers, another step on the comeback trail. In 2023, Jazmin won the European Indoor title in Istanbul with her first-ever seven-meter jump. I was there and watched. What is hilarious is hearing Jazmin’s account of that moment. She knew it was a good jump and was looking for a high 6.90+ to appear on the scoreboard. When 00 caught her eye, she was confused – then she saw the 7.
Then she suffered a serious injury and did not compete from September 2023 to May 2025. The 2025 season was OK. An early-season 6.89 was not matched by other performances. In 2026, she was back! She won the Commonwealth Games with 6.93. She was second in the European Championships with a 6.96 and a 6.99w. She was second in Ultimate with 6.78, which, I am told, was worth $75,000.
Her reaction was: “Once I made it into the event, I realized I actually really wanted to win it, and so there is still some disappointment. But when I zoom out and look at the season as a whole, that is a great result – I’m so pleased. I was struggling at the start of the competition but managed to fight when the pressure was on. The whole stadium looked pretty impressive, so cool; it was a wow moment for me as an athlete. I hope it comes across the same to everybody else because it was wonderful to be out there. With the prize money, I really want to buy a sewing machine, but I don’t really think I can fit it in my apartment.”
The reference to the sewing machine is one aspect of a multi-talented individual with a degree in law – what is the connection between law and jumping – who makes many of her own clothes, comments on and MCs Track galas.
Second of Eleven stories on Ultimate Championships…
