At 21, he is already the third best triple jumper of all time, after jumping 17.98 metres in June, which followed his gold medal in the World Indoor Championships in Doha in March. He was also the triple jump winner of the 2010 Diamond League and won the bronze medal in the European Championships in Barcelona.
At the 2010 World Indoor Championships, he took an early lead in the final with a jump of 17.41m and when Yoandri Betanzos surprised him with a 17.69m personal best, Tamgho jumped seven centimetres clear of the world record mark (jointly held by Aliecer Urrutia and Christian Olsson) to record a new world indoor record of 17.90 m.
At his first Diamond League meeting, In New York, he jumped 17.60 m in the third round, and improved a centimetre further with the next jump before setting a personal best of 17.84 m to take the lead. Having already secured victory, he pushed even further with his final attempt to jump 17.98 m, making himself the third best jumper on the all-time lists behind Jonathan Edwards and Kenny Harrison. Three days before his 21st birthday, Tamgho had achieved the longest triple jump for over a decade.
