Markus Rehm, the German amputee long jumper who qualified for but wasn’t allowed to compete at the 2014 European Championships, posted another personal best at an International Paralympic Committee meet in Barcelona on Saturday.
Rehm, 26, leaped 8.29m, which was .05 farther than his jump to win the German Championship last year. Rehm’s distance would have won the 2012 Olympic silver medal and registered as the No. 3 jump in the world this year among able-bodied athletes.
Rehm’s goal is to compete at the World Championships and Olympics, according to German press agency DPA, citing German outlet Sport Bild.
Moreover, Rehm wants another investigation into whether his prosthetic right leg gives him a competitive advantage that should disallow him from becoming the Oscar Pistorius of the long jump, though Pistorius wasn’t considered a medal threat in the 400m when he competed at the London Olympics.
In July, tests were performed on Rehm’s prosthetic leg in the four days between his national title and the German team announcement for the European Championships.
“The investigation last year didn’t take enough factors into account,” Rehm told Bild in comments translated by The Associated Press on Wednesday. “Only the potential advantages were considered. But the disadvantages that I have through the prosthesis have to be included in the results.”
The president of Germany’s track and field governing body said in July there was “significant doubt” that jumps on a prosthetic leg and a natural leg were comparable, according to the AP. The president also said Rehm might receive an extra “catapult effect.”
The German track and field federation said then that it would conduct more tests and consult with the German Olympic Committee, according to the AP.
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