Chris Tomlinson – Long Jump
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26-year-old Long Jumper Chris
Tomlinson represents one of the most exciting talents in British athletics
today. He proved his world class status in
From a young age Chris showed
great raw talent at both long and triple jumps and has won eight AAA age group
titles. He was English Schools champion at junior boy’s triple jump in 1996,
intermediate boys triple jump in 1997, and senior long
jump in 1999 - the year when he also made his Junior International debut in the
long jump.
In 2000 Chris again sparkled at the AAA Indoor
Championships when he won the senior long jump with a personal best of 7.57 and
won the double at the Juniors with 7.48 and 15.31. Outdoors he set personal
bests for the long jump in winning the AAA U20 title with 7.59, and with 7.62
in the qualifying round at the World Junior Championships.
In 2001 Chris decided to concentrate his efforts on long jumping, a decision
which was to prove excellent from the start. Indoors he retained his AAA title
and outdoors started with a personal best in April of 7.75 in Tallahassee, USA.
Chris then went on to make his senior International debut at the European Cup
in Glasgow jumping a splendid second with 7.67 and also won the AAA U23 title.
He continued this good form with 6th in the European U23 in and then produced a
sensational 8.19 long jump for 2nd in the ‘A’ International against France,
firmly cementing him as one to watch for the future. At the end of the season he decided to
join Newham & Essex Beagles for better competition after being with Mandale Harriers from the age of ten.
In what proved to be a
roller coaster season, 2002 started badly for Chris when he broke both wrists in a weight-training
accident in January 2002, but he returned with a huge jump of 8.27m at
Tallahassee on 13 April. This jump broke the 34-year-old British record set by
Lynn Davies (8.23m), set in 1968, which had previously proved beyond the reach
of generation after generation of British athletes, and firmly cemented his position on the International scene. Following this impressive
return tpo competition he went on to head three men over 8m at Loughborough with 8.17.
Later that year Chris went on to win the
Scottish title and the Commonwealth Trials, both with 7.98, and then became the
first-ever British man to win the long jump at the European Cup (final) with
8.17 (backed by 8.16 and 8.14), adding 2nd at the AAA’ s. At the Commonwealth
Games in
Chris also made history at the 2003 World
Athletics Championships in Paris by becoming the first British male to ever
reach a World Championship long jump final. And he followed this great performance
with a memorable year in 2004. As well as his fantastic achievement in Athens,
Chris reaffirmed his position as British No. 1 winning the AAA Indoor
Championships and followed this by breaking the 15 year British Indoor Record
to place 6th in the World Indoor Championships.
An adductor injury held him back to a
non-qualifying 7.85 at the 2005 European Indoors and he did not compete
outdoors until the World Championships, where he did 7.83w in the qualifying
round. He jumped 7.96 for 6th at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and his summer
best was 8.09. He was 3rd at the AAAs with 7.87 and
9th at the Europeans with 7.74 after 7.95 in qualifying.
In 2007 he was 5th at the European Indoors
with 7.89 after 7.96 in qualifying and outdoors started with 8.12w/8.10 at
The 2008 indoor season has started strongly for
Chris as he picked up a hat-trick of 1st place finishes, in Glasgow,
Stuttgart and at the World Indooor Trials in Sheffield respectively. At the
Sparkassen Cup in Sheffield he improved his own indoor British record, setting
a new mark of 8.18m. He is currently in preparation for the World Indoor
Championships in Valencia.
All of this will be great preparation for Chris as
he looks to travel to Beijing this summer as one of the GB team’s greatest Olympic
medal hopes.
Chris is trained by Jonathan Edwards’ coach, Peter
Stanley and is sponsored by Adidas.
His
fiancée Lucia plays the female lead in the
March 2008