Edwards leaps year's best

Britain's triple jump world record holder Jonathan Edwards, battling to return to form ahead of the Sydney Olympics, made the best leap in the world this year at a meeting in Germany on Sunday.

Bouncing back from an ankle injury that ruled him out of the British Olympic trials a week ago, Edwards jumped 17.62 metres on his second jump to better the year's previous best, set by Italian Fabrizio Donato in June, by two centimetres.

World champion Charles Friedek, competing on his home ground at Leverkusen, took second with 17.14 metres.

Edwards' winning leap was a sharp improvement on his own best so far in 2000 of 17.36, set at this month's Zurich grand prix and will send a clear warning to his challengers at the Sydney Games which open on September 15.

The first man to jump over 18 metres when he was at the height of his form in 1995, Edwards said in Zurich that he was feeling back to his best in terms of fitness and was concentrating on his technique.