World Indoors: Pushed hard by Triki and battling cramp, Zango looks back on his wild final

Hugues Fabrice Zango is on top of the world. The Burkinabé won triple jump gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships just a year after his outdoor title. And he is over the moon to have claimed this second world title.

"I'm really satisfied to have delivered, because it's never easy. Even if you have a certain amount of self-belief going into a championship, there are still a few factors that can change and can affect the result. Honestly, I'm happy to have produced a performance good enough to win, with 17 metres 53 centimetres. What's more, it's a respectable performance, one that puts you on the podium at any world event, so that's really very good. I'm still competitive (smiles). And today, if someone had jumped 17 metres 60 centimetres, I'd simply have jumped 17 metres 61 centimetres, we know that (smiles). It depends on the competition: depending on how the competition unfolds, I adapt, I do what's needed and honestly I'm happy!" Zango said in an interview with TV5 Monde.

The triple jump final was fiercely contested, incidentally. Zango was being pushed hard by Algeria's Yasser Triki, who ultimately had to settle for bronze. "You saw, in the first round, I jumped 16 metres 69 centimetres, because nobody had jumped yet, I was really in a daze, I didn't know what I was doing… And then straight away Triki jumped 17 metres 35 centimetres, and I responded with 17 metres 33 centimetres! That's me: I'm someone who reacts to those stimuli. If you jump 18 metres straight away, that'll put me at 18 metres! That's how I adapt to different competitions, I know I'm capable of good things. And when I jumped 17 metres 33 centimetres, given the mistakes I'd made in my jump, I realised I was bound to move ahead. I just had to keep a cool head," said Burkina Faso's first Olympic medallist.

Zango now focused on the Olympics

Hugues Fabrice Zango could even have pulled out in the fourth round of the final. He had in fact been hit by cramp. But he gave everything to win this gold medal. He explained: "Absolutely! Indeed, I got cramp in my left calf in the fourth round, but I couldn't leave it there, it just wasn't possible. So I told my coach I had to move into the lead to be safe. Because if the cramp got worse, the sixth round could be harder. I'm competitive right through to the sixth round, but in the fifth I really visualised my jump. I pulled together all the elements from the start of the competition, and I knew full well I could take the lead, and that's what I did."

Indoor and outdoor world champion and bronze medallist at the Tokyo Olympics, Fabrice Zango dreams of winning another Olympic medal in Paris. "Ah, the Paris Games! Now I can look ahead… I've just ticked off the last box I was missing! The next box is the Games. Well, I'll enjoy tonight a bit… But from tomorrow, we'll start preparing for Paris and we now have a clear run!" he concluded.