Burkina Faso’s Zango secures gold medal at World Athletics Championships

Hugues-Fabrice Zango claimed his first world title in the triple jump with a mark of 17.64 m at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest on Monday.

Olympic bronze medallist in Tokyo, Zango took the gold ahead of Cubans, Lazaro Martinez, silver medallist and Cristian Napoles.

"It's just amazing. I'm really happy with this medal because I dreamed about it four years ago, in 2019, and it was hard to get it, and I passed by bronze, silver, and now gold, so I'm really happy with the progression, and I'm sure that next time will be even better," shared the champion.

World vice-champion in 2022 in Eugene and third in Doha in 2019, Zango is the first athlete from Burkina Faso to be crowned World Champion. 

"Inevitably, we have a lot more pressure because we still carry the dreams of many people, whether from Africa, or Burkina Faso as well and, I am so glad to be an ambassador of Burkina Faso, that is still going through difficult times at the moment and so, considering all that, it weighs a bit on our actions. Today, it was not easy and when we saw a bit how the competition was going, my coach just told me to relax, ‘relax, you know how to do 17.60 meters, you do it all the time during practice, just do it again," added Zango.

Hugues Fabrice Zango also holds the men's indoor triple jump world record at 18.07 m, completed in 2021, wiping the slate clean of all previous attempts.