IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018

Christian Taylor's Biggest Rival Just Got Portuguese Citizenship

Christian Taylor's Biggest Rival Just Got Portuguese Citizenship

Pedro Pablo Pichardo, formerly of Cuba, beat three-time world champion Christian Taylor in triple jump this year

Dec 7, 2017 by Johanna Gretschel
Christian Taylor's Biggest Rival Just Got Portuguese Citizenship

Pedro Pablo Pichardo, the fourth-best triple jumper in world history, successfully obtained Portuguese citizenship this week after defecting from Cuba in April.

The 24-year-old is a two-time IAAF world championships silver medalist and is one of the few men in the world who has defeated America's prize triple jumper Christian Taylor, who earned his fifth global gold at this summer's worlds in London.

Pichardo's personal best of 18.08m makes him one of only five men to jump beyond 18m; only he and Taylor have done so in the past two years.

Pichardo defeated Taylor at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Lausanne this summer, and owned the third-best mark in the world this year behind Taylor and fellow American Will Claye. But his defection from Cuba made his ineligible to compete at worlds.

Pichardo's newfound Portuguese citizenship still doesn't make him eligible to for world competition, as the IAAF has frozen nationality transfers for the time being and a working group is not scheduled to discuss the issue again until March of 2018. 

Pichardo will thus not be eligible to compete at the IAAF world indoor championships next year, held in Birmingham, England, from March 1-4.