Christopher George Tomlinson (born 15 September 1981) is a retired English long jumper. He is the former British long jump record holder and competed at the Olympics of 2004, 2008 and 2012.
Biography Born in Middlesbrough, Tomlinson began competing for Middlesbrough AC (formerly Mandale Harriers) at the age of 10, mostly over 100m and 200m. He attended Nunthorpe Secondary School, where he still holds many of its year group records for triple and long jump, before attending Prior Pursglove College in Guisborough. In his early teens Chris decided to concentrate on long jump. His major breakthrough came in 2002 when, just three months after breaking both wrists in a freak weight-training accident, he jumped 8.27 m to break the British record that had been held by Lynn Davies for 34 years. On 7 July 2007 he increased his record by a further 2 cm, jumping while competing in Bad Langensalza in Germany.
Tomlinson competed for athletics club Newham and Essex Beagles for some time. He has won seven national titles in various age groups, including one for the triple jump indoors for under 20s in 2000.
In February 2008 he became the world's top long jumper of the year so far with a leap of 8.18m. He won the silver medal at the 2008 World Indoor Championships. He competed at the 2008 Olympic Games without reaching the final. On 20 August 2009, his record was broken by 1 cm by Greg Rutherford in the qualifying for the World Championships long jump final. Both Rutherford and Tomlinson progressed to the final.
Tomlinson regained the British record in July 2011 with a jump of 8.35 m in Paris. Rutherford equalled this distance on 3 May 2012, before surpassing it in 2014.
Tomlinson was a five-times British long jump champion after winning the British AAA Championships title in 2004 and the British Athletics Championships in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2013.
Tomlinson was conferred with an Honorary doctorate by the University of East London in 2010.
Achievements Representing and 2000World Junior ChampionshipsSantiago, Chile12th7.29 m (wind: +0.7 m/s)2001European U23 ChampionshipsAmsterdam, Netherlands6th7.70 m (wind: -0.2 m/s)2002Commonwealth GamesManchester, England6th7.79 mEuropean ChampionshipsMunich, Germany6th7.78 m2003World Indoor ChampionshipsBirmingham, United Kingdom11th (q)7.73 mWorld ChampionshipsParis, France9th7.93 m2004World Indoor ChampionshipsBudapest, Hungary6th8.17 mOlympic GamesAthens, Greece5th8.25 m2005European Indoor ChampionshipsMadrid, Spain9th (q)7.85 mWorld ChampionshipsHelsinki, Finland14th (q)7.83 m2006Commonwealth GamesMelbourne, Australia6th7.96 mEuropean ChampionshipsGothenburg, Sweden9th7.74 m2007European Indoor ChampionshipsBirmingham, United Kingdom5th7.89 mWorld ChampionshipsOsaka, Japan16th (q)7.89 m2008World Indoor ChampionshipsValencia, Spain 2nd8.06 mOlympic GamesBeijing, China27th (q)7.70 m2009World ChampionshipsBerlin, Germany8th8.06 m2010World Indoor ChampionshipsDoha, Qatar14th (q)7.75 mEuropean ChampionshipsBarcelona, Spain3rd8.23 mCommonwealth GamesNew Delhi, India —NM2011European Team ChampionshipsStockholm, Sweden3rd8.12 mWorld ChampionshipsDaegu, South Korea11th7.87 m2012European ChampionshipsHelsinki, Finland13th (q)7.84 mOlympic GamesLondon, United Kingdom6th8.07 m2013European Indoor ChampionshipsGothenburg, Sweden7th7.95 m2014Commonwealth GamesGlasgow, United Kingdom5th7.99 mEuropean ChampionshipsZurich, Switzerland11th7.75 m Note: Results with a q, indicate overall position in qualifying round
Personal bests
EventPersonal BestVenueDate60 metres (indoor)6.84 secondsLee Valley, UK4 January 2009100 metres10.69 secondsFlorida, United States13 April 2002200 metres21.55 secondsLondon, UK8 May 2004Long Jump8.35 mParis, France8 July 2011Long Jump (indoor)8.18 mStuttgart, Germany2 February 2008Triple Jump14.80 mSheffield, UK8 July 2000Triple Jump (indoor)15.31 mBirmingham, UK5 February 2000
All information taken from IAAF profile and power of 10 profile.
References
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