Bayer celebrates his Long Jump gold with silver medallist compatriot Nils Winter.

It was hardly Sebastian Bayer’s fault, but the moment he chose to sprout wings and record the second longest jump in indoor history was the second that two Italian sprinters were receiving their silver and bronze 60m medals in a victory ceremony.

The slight German bounded around the infield desperately trying to celebrate his extraordinary feat only to be met by disgruntled fans applauding their home-grown medals.

As if in apology at the clash of interests, the host broadcaster kept on repeating the jump on the Oval monitors after the 60m medallists had left the podium.

It was just as well they did, because it took some time to sink in. Only the great – in this case meaning great – Carl Lewis has jumped further than the schoolboy-looking Bayer.

In fairness to all concerned, the jump came out of the blue. Bayer had gone out to 8.29 for his first attempt and that alone would have been sufficient for gold as well as a remarkable 12cm improvement on his best to date.

He then missed three jumps before fouling in the fifth. It could not have been more anti-climatic.

Only compatriot Nils Winter had come close in the fifth round with 8.22, good enough for silver, while Poland’s Marcin Starzak set a national record of 8.18 in the fifth.

In one sense, it was a good competition for long jumpers. The top six men all recorded PBs behind Bayer’s European and championship record.

In something of what is sounding like a gross understatement now German athletics magazine, Leichtathletik , said in their preview of the championships: 

“Bayer is rounding into the form of his life at just the right time.”  Never a truer word.

After an 8.13 PB in the German championships, Bayer surpassed that at Chemnitz one week later with 8.17.

The Bremen athlete had been struggling to overcome an adductor injury since January and Chemnitz was the first pain-free jump for some time.

“Now I need to transfer my success here to the next level in Torino,” said the German, eyeing a possible medal.

But after the final he was as much in the dark as everyone else as to how he had exceeded all expectations.

Surrounded by German press, Bayer shrugged his shoulders constantly as he tried to give some clue as to how he managed such a feat:

“Right now I cannot tell you how I managed to jump that far,” he said.

“But the run-up and the set-up of the long jump was very good. We also saw that yesterday in the women’s event.”

Apart from the fact that Bayer had twice won the German championships, his career record sounds modest in the extreme. He did not qualify for the World junior championships 2004 and won silver in the 2005 European Junior championships.

In 2006 he failed to qualify for the Europeans in Gothenburg and for the Beijing Olympics.