Two years later he improved his personal record to 8.28 m at age 19, which stands as the third best performer in the Junior Division, only behind 8.34 m by Randy Williams while winning the 1972 Summer Olympics and the 2012 improvement to 8.35 by Sergey Morgunov of Russia. His age 17 jump would also attain the same status, making it that much more exceptional. As a point of comparison, his 8.28 m was marginally better than Larry Myricks jumped to get the bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics two months later, but Cuba boycotted the Olympics in Seoul, South Korea that year. That year he also won the CAC Junior championships, and the 1988 World Junior Championships in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.