Brisbane, Australia - Fluctuating wind tormented him but Sydney long jumper Fabrice Lapierre sprang from eighth place to victory on his final attempt at the 87th Australian Championships tonight (21).

His winning jump of 8.29m (+0.8m/s) on his sixth attempt moved Lapierre, 25, to third on the Australian all-time list behind Sydney Olympic finalist Jai Taurima (silver medallist with 8.49m) and Peter Burge (8.30m) and now ahead of Gary Honey who cleared 8.27m in 1984, the year he won silver behind Carl Lewis at the Los Angeles Olympics. But it was a near thing tonight for Lapierre who flew all the way from College Station, Texas, where he graduated from Texas A&M but still works with "coach V" - Jim Vanhootegem. Lapierre fouled his first two attempts (with tailwinds of 3.7m/s and then 3.0m/s): "So I had one left and messed it up too," Pierre explained. "I had to make it (a safety jump to qualify for the final eight and another three jumps) but I was too slow, behind the board, it was horrible. I certainly thought I got knocked out. View complete article at www.iaaf.org