INDIANAPOLIS -- Jackie Joyner-Kersee equaled the world record in the long jump Thursday night with a leap of 24 feet, 5 inches at the Pan American Games.
Joyner-Kersee, the recipient of the 1986 Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete, tied the mark set by East German Heike Drechsler in 1986 at a meet in Dresden, West Germany.
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The record came on her sixth and final attempt in the long jump competition. On her second jump, Joyner-Kersee landed past Drechsler's mark but the leap was disallowed because her right foot went over the takeoff line.
Earlier in the competition, Joyner-Kersee broke her own American record and established a Pan Ams best with a jump of 23-9 .
