SYDNEY, July 5: Australia’s long jump gold medal hopeful Mitchell Watt is looking to make a statement with his best jump of the year in Madrid this weekend as he continues to build towards the London Olympics.

The world championship silver medallist will take on British pace-setter Greg Rutherford at the world challenge meeting in the Spanish capital, having jumped competitively just twice this year.

“I am hoping to bump my distance up a bit there,” Watt told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph. “I think I am definitely in the shape to jump a season-best, so I can jump up the rankings. No one has dropped a bomb yet, as they say, so it will be interesting to see if anyone does anything crazy before we get to London.”

Watt, who won silver despite carrying an Achilles problem at the world championships last year, pulled out of a street meeting in Stuttgart last week because of the slippery conditions.—Reuters