Can Dwight Phillips smash Mike Powell's long jump world record?

US long jumper Dwight Phillips launched to a massive 8.74m at the Prefontaine Classic – the longest jump in 15 years. So can the US jumper threaten the iconic distance of 8.95m set by Mike Powell in 1991? Spikesmag.com spoke to Powell himself and other members of the long jump community to check out their thoughts.

Mike Powell – World record holder and former two-time World champion.

Were you surprised by Phillips jump of 8.74m?

MP: I wouldn’t say I was surprised. I’m more surprised by the way he’s jumped this season compared to the last couple of seasons. He opened up with 8.51m and then jumped in the 8.60s. Then I found out he was training with Loren Seagrave (former coach to 1996 Olympic 100m champion Donovan Bailey) and I thought ‘okay, that makes sense.’ 

It is not impossible to jump that well when you are past 30 but there has to be some motivational reasoning behind it. He’s been the world champion twice and Olympic gold medalist, too so I think he’s now jumping for the joy of it. He’s always had the talent to jump that far.