Pedro Pablo Pichardo Peralta (, ; born 30 June 1993) is a Cuban-born Portuguese

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 ...

er who holds the current

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World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

, and

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

titles. He won the gold medal at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

with a Portuguese national record of . Pichardo was the 2012 World Junior Champion and the 2013 World Championship silver medalist. His in early 2014 was the best triple jump of the year. In 2015, his made him the #6 performer ever. A week later he improved to , making him the #3 performer ever and the best performance the world has seen since 1996 (when Pichardo was only 3 years old). At club level, he represents Benfica in Portugal.

Career

On 15 May 2015, Pichardo jumped (0.9 m/s) at the

Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix The Doha Diamond League is an annual one-day track and field meeting held at the Suheim bin Hamad Stadium The Suheim bin Hamad Stadium (), also known as Qatar SC Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Doha, Qatar. It is currently used mostly for ...

. His performance made him the number 3 performer ever at the time. With Christian Taylor also jumping minutes later, this was the first competition in history to have two men jump over 18 m, being called "the greatest triple jump competition ever." Pichardo's 18.06 m also improved his own Cuban national record of set one week earlier in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

. That mark erased

Yoelbi Quesada Yoelbi Luis Quesada Fernández (; born August 4, 1973, in Trinidad, Sancti Spíritus) is a Cuban athlete competing mostly in triple jump. Career He has an Olympic bronze medal, and became world champion in 1997 with a personal best jump of 17.8 ...

's nearly 18-year-old record, and put Pichardo in position #6 of the all-time top ten performers. Back in 2013, Pichardo had won

Athletissima Athletissima is an annual athletics meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Diamond League. The first edition was held on 8 July 1977 in the Stade Pierre de Coubertin. In ...

with a mark of 17.58 m. On 28 May 2015, Pichardo jumped (0.0 m/s) at the Copa Cuba-Memorial Barrientos meet in Havana, improving his own Cuban national record set two weeks earlier by 2 cm. In April 2017, Pichardo disappeared from the Cuban national team's meeting in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, Germany, appearing in Portugal days later. After signing a contract with Portuguese club S.L. Benfica on 27 April, he gained Portuguese citizenship on 7 December and was eligible to compete for Portugal on international stage since August 2019. Therefore, the first major competition in which Pichardo represented the Portuguese colours was the 2019 World Championships, finishing fourth in the final. Pichardo established Portugal's triple jump record at 17.95 m during the

2018 IAAF Diamond League The 2018 Diamond League was the ninth season of the annual series of outdoor track and field meetings, organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It is the second edition to feature the new championship-style syst ...

on 4 May 2018, winning a gold medal. He also won gold medals at the

2019 IAAF Diamond League The 2019 Diamond League was the tenth season of the annual series of outdoor track and field meetings, organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It featured fourteen meetings, with the final two meetings serving ...

, with a personal season best of 17.53 m, and at the 2020 IAAF Diamond League, with a mark of 17.40 m. Representing Portugal, Pichardo won the gold medal at the

2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held from 4 to 7 March 2021 at the Arena Toruń in Toruń, Poland. This was the second time this event was held in Poland after the 1975 edition in Katowice. The four-day competition featured 1 ...

on 7 March 2021. On 6 July, Pichardo jumped 17.92 m (+0.4) at the Gyulai István Memorial, beating Hugues Fabrice Zango. On 5 August 2021, Pichardo competed in the

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

representing

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. He won the gold medal in the

event and the country's fifth ever gold medal.

Achievements

Personal bests

*All information taken from IAAF Profile.

Personal life

Pichardo is married to Arialis Gandulla, with whom he has a daughter, Rosalis Maria. His father, Jorge Pichardo, is his coach.

References

External links