By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Janry Ubas boosted his bid for a world championship berth after clinching the gold medal in men’s long jump at the Motonet Grand Prix Lappeenranta in Finland on Wednesday, July 19.
The reigning Southeast Asian Games champion leaped 7.86 meters on his second attempt to rule the event, edging hometown bet Kasperi Vehmaa and Australian Zane Branco.
Vehmaa managed the silver with a personal best of 7.75m while Branco copped the bronze with 7.70m.
With the win, the world No. 53 Ubas also earned 60 points to boost his world ranking during the qualification window for the World Athletics Championships slated in Budapest, Hungary on Aug. 19 to 27.
Prior to that, the Misamis Oriental native received 90 points for placing seventh in the recent 25th Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.
Two more events are lined up for Ubas – the 16th Triveneto Meeting in Trieste, Italy on July 22 and the Internationales Stuttgarter Leichtathletik-Meeting in Stuttgart, Germany on July 29.
