US women compete in long jump final

American Brittney Reese wins silver

 

America's Tianna Bartoletta won gold in the women's long jump final Wednesday night at the Rio Olympics.

USA teammate Brittney Reese won silver and Ivana Spanovic of Serbia won bronze.

The U.S. had two reigning long jump champions competing in the final with Brittney Reese the reigning Olympic champ and Tianna Bartoletta the current world champ.

Reese had the third longest jump in Tuesday's qualifying at 6.78 meters with Bartoletta fifth at 6.70 meters.

The third American competing in the event in Rio, Janay DeLoach, missed advancing from qualifying by 1 inch.

Reese, a 29-year-old Mississippi native, won her gold medal at the 2012 London Games after finishing fifth in her Olympic debut in 2008. She's also a six-time world champion in the event and sits behind only Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Marion Jones when it comes to the longest jumps posted by American women.

Bartoletta, a 30-year-old Elyria, Ohio, native, is not only a three-time world champion long jumper but also competes in sprint events. In 2012, she won Olympic gold by leading off the world record-setting 4x100 m relay team, but missed out on a 100m medal with a fourth-place finish.

She'll help defend that relay gold in Rio starting Thursday, but failed to qualify for last weekend's 100m final.