The Olympic triple jump champion, Pedro Pablo Pichardo, publicly protested against the World Athletics decision to exclude the men's triple jump from the Ultimate Championship. The Portuguese athlete expressed his indignation through social media, questioning the criteria used by the international federation to select the events that make up the competition.
Pichardo, who won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games, considered this exclusion a lack of respect for the athletes of the discipline and for the very history of the discipline in athletics. The triple jump is one of the classic events in the Olympic and World Championships program, which makes its absence from an elite event even more contestable.
World Athletics, through the Ultimate Championship, aims to bring together the best athletes from each discipline in high-level competitions. However, the choice of events included in the event has generated criticism, with various athletes from different disciplines questioning the federation's selection criteria.
Pichardo's protest joins other voices from athletes who have expressed concerns about the direction World Athletics is taking regarding the competition program. The Portuguese athlete hopes that his intervention can contribute to a review of this decision and to greater recognition of triple jump in the world athletics elite circuit.
