PARIS – At 25 years of age, the reigning U.S. champion in the triple jump already has seen peaks, valleys, unexpected victories and unexpected setbacks.

At Monday’s final competition in the men’s triple jump, he hopes he will see the top of the medal stand.

It is a position that Bell, a three-time All-American while at Louisiana’s Northwestern State University, has come to know in the last two years. His first taste of victory came in 2001, when he won the World University Games in Beijing, China, with a jump of 17.64m/56-6.75. Bell was coming off of a 9th-place finish at the World Outdoor Championships, and he finished the year ranked fourth in U.S. in the triple jump.

His personal best of 17.63m/57-10.25 came at Mt. SAC in 2002, shortly before His season was interrupted when he broke the fourth metatarsal in his left foot three weeks prior to the USA Outdoor Championships.

That setback barely caused a break in his stride, however. Bell rebounded nicely in 2003, placing third at the USA Indoor championships and winning his first national title outdoors in June with a jump of 17.59m/57-8.5. It was his best jump of the season and, he hopes, a prelude to how he will perform in Monday’s final in Paris.

“It was a good jump, but I know I can go farther,” Bell said at the USA Championships. “At Worlds, I want to jump 59 feet, because that’s what I think it will take to win here.” Bell’s coach, Randy Huntington, certainly knows what it takes to prepare an athlete to win. Huntington formerly coached long jump world record holder Mike Powell

Bell had the fifth-best jump in Saturday’s qualifying round in the triple jump at the World Outdoor Championships, and he is the #4 triple jumper in the world so far in 2003. His leap at USA Outdoors puts him behind world leader and meet favorite Christian Olsson of Sweden, who has a season best of 17.77m/58-3.75.