Izmir Smajlaj (born 29 March 1993) is an

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

n athlete who specialises in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. He won the gold medal at the

2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held between 3 and 5 March 2017 at the Kombank Arena in Belgrade, Serbia. This was the second time this event was held in the city after the 1969 European Indoor Games, 1969 edition then known a ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, the first gold medal for his country at a major athletics competition, setting a new national and personal record of 8.08 metres in 2017. His personal bests in the long jump are: * 8.16 metres outdoors (, 2021) in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

. (new national record) * 8.11 metres outdoors (–0.7 m/s wind, 2019) in

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra; historically known as Scodra or Scutari) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, fifth-most-populous city of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. Shkodër has been List of o ...

. (new national record) * 8.08 metres indoors (2017) First place in long jump competition, gold medal at the

European Athletics Indoor Championships The European Athletics Indoor Championships is a biennial indoor track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skil ...

Belgrade, Serbia Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

* 7.93 metres indoors (2018) First place in long jump competition, gold medal at the Balkan Indoor Championships, Istanbul, Turkey * 7.89 metres outdoors (2018) First place in long jump competition, gold medal and best olympic athlete of the match at the Albanian Athletics Outdoor Championships, Elbasan, Albania * 7.89 metres outdoors (2018) 7.83 metres outdoors ( 2024 ) In addition, in the

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 long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

, he has a personal best of 16.30 metres outdoors (-0.2 m/s wind; 2016; Elbasan, Albania) and 15.15 metres indoors (2014; Tirana, Albania). All the first three marks are current

national records National Records was a record label that was started in New York City by Albert Green in 1945 and lasted until early 1951. Big Joe Turner was signed at the beginning and remained until 1947. Billy Eckstine was also a big seller for the label as ...

. In 2023, the president and general secretary of the Albanian Athletics Federation were banned by the

Athletics Integrity Unit The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) is a Monaco-based organization founded by World Athletics in April 2017 to combat doping and address other forms of ethical misconduct in the sport of athletics. It operates independently from World Athletics ...

for manipulating one of Smajlaj's 2021 results that earned him a universality placement at the

Tokyo Olympics Tokyo Olympics may refer to: * 1940 Summer Olympics, Games of the XII Olympiad, cancelled due to World War II * 1964 Summer Olympics, Games of the XVIII Olympiad * 2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an ...

. Smajlaj was cleared of wrongdoing.

International competitions

References

1993 births Living people Albanian male long jumpers Olympic athletes for Albania Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 European Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Albania European Games competitors for Albania Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games competitors for Albania Sportspeople from Shkodër Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics 21st-century Albanian sportsmen {{Albania-athletics-bio-stub