Reese claims long jump gold

Reuters: America’s world indoor and outdoor champion Brittney Reese added an Olympic long jump gold medal to her growing list of titles on Wednesday with the second biggest jump in the world this year.

Brittney Reese of the U.S. competes in her women's long jump qualification during the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium August 7, 2012

The 25-year-old only managed to register two of six attempts all night inside London’s Olympic stadium but her second jump of 7.12 metres was good enough to take gold.

Russia’s Elena Sokolova produced a personal best of 7.07 - the seventh best jump in the world this year - to claim silver with Reese’s American compatriot Janay DeLoach taking bronze on 6.89.

Reese, who has this year’s biggest leap of 7.15 metres, has back-to-back indoor and outdoor world championships in what has been a rich vein of form since finishing fifth in the 2008 Olympic final in Beijing.

She became the first American Olympic women’s long jump champion since Jackie Joyner-Kersee in 1988 in Seoul.