Athletics-Bored Howe to jump for fun in Birmingham

BIRMINGHAM, England, Mar 1 (Reuters) European long jump champion Andrew Howe is favourite to add the indoor title this weekend after deciding to take part in the championships because he was bored.

The 21-year-old Italian has competed twice this season and only confirmed his participation at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham last weekend.

When asked what made up his mind, Howe told a bemused news conference: ''Mostly because I was bored.

''I was tired of training alone by myself, so I thought 'lets go and jump and have some fun at the European championships'.

''I was just training, training, training, I needed to race.

If I don't jump for so long a time, I fall asleep a little bit. So I wanted to wake up a little bit and have some fun,'' added Howe, who also plays drums in a rock band.

He has a best this year of 8.15 metres and is ranked second in Europe behind Greek Louis Tsatoumas (8.17), who will also line up in Saturday's qualifying round.

American-born Howe, who moved to Italy when he was five, said he did not know what to expect of himself in competition because he had not prepared for the indoor season, concentrating instead on August's world championships in Osaka.

''I'm pretty curious about myself as I've only had two competitions. One I was sick, had a fever and the second competition I jumped about 20 centimetres behind the board and still managed to do 8.15,'' he said.

The European indoor championships run from March 2 to 4.

Reuters SY RS2349