Izmir Smajlaj (born 29 March 1993) is an

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

n athlete who specialises in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. He won the gold medal at the

2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held between 3 and 5 March 2017 at the Kombank Arena in Belgrade, Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ...

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, the first gold medal for his country at a major athletics competition, setting a new national and personal record of 8.08 metres in 2017. His personal bests in the long jump are: * 8.16 metres outdoors (, 2021) in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

. (new national record) * 8.11 metres outdoors (–0.7 m/s wind, 2019) in

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra) is the fifth-most-populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. The city sprawls across the Plain of Mbishkodra between the southern part of Lake Shkod ...

. (new national record) * 8.08 metres indoors (2017) First place in long jump competition, gold medal at the

European Athletics Indoor Championships The European Athletics Indoor Championships is a biennial indoor track and field competition for European athletes that is organised by the European Athletic Association. It was held for the first time in 1970, replacing the European Indoor Games, ...

Belgrade, Serbia Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 millio ...

* 7.93 metres indoors (2018) First place in long jump competition, gold medal at the Balkan Indoor Championships, Istanbul, Turkey * 7.89 metres outdoors (2018) First place in long jump competition, gold medal and best olympic athlete of the match at the Albanian Athletics Outdoor Championships, Elbasan, Albania * 7.89 metres outdoors (2018) First place in long jump competition, gold medal and title of "Best athlete male of the competition" at Small States of Europe,

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...

In addition, in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

, he has a personal best of 16.30 metres outdoors (-0.2 m/s wind; 2016; Elbasan, Albania) and 15.15 metres indoors (2014; Tirana, Albania). All the first three marks are current

national records National Records was a record label that was started in New York City by Albert Green in 1945 and lasted until early 1951. Big Joe Turner was signed at the beginning and remained until 1947. Billy Eckstine was also a big seller for the label as w ...

International competitions

References

1993 births Living people Albanian male long jumpers Olympic athletes for Albania Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 European Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Albania European Games competitors for Albania Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games competitors for Albania Sportspeople from Shkodër Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics {{Albania-athletics-bio-stub