PERTH, Aus - In winning his third Australian national long jump title this weekend, Texas A&M graduate Fabrice Lapierre flew to an amazing distance of 28 feet, 9 3/4 inches (8.78), aided by a 3.1 wind, in the final round of the national meet that served as the Commonwealth Games selection trails for Australia.

"It's always there," said Lapierre, who has promised to break the Australia record of 27-10.25 (8.49) this season. "People don't understand that one day I'm going to jump something even more exceptional than that.

"It's only a matter of time until I do something crazy and everyone is going to take notice."

The 26-year-old Lapierre became the sixth best performer ever in the event, under any conditions, with the ninth best performance. Five of the marks among the all-time top 10 join Lapierre's mark as being wind aided while four of the marks were set at altitude sites.

The five jumpers currently ahead of Lapierre on the all-time list are legends in the sport: Mike Powell, Carl Lewis, Bob Beamon, Ivan Pedroso of Cuba and Russian Robert Emmiyan.

The mark produced by Lapierre is the longest jump in the world over the past 15 years, since Pedroso reached a wind-aided distance of 29-2 in 1995, set in the altitude-assisted site of Sestriere, Italy.