Long jumper Greg Rutherford harnessed the support of the British crowd once against to take victory at the Diamond League in Birmingham.

Rutherford relishes the chance to perform close to home with Olympic and Commonwealth gold arriving in London and Glasgow respectively in recent years.

And it was no different this weekend as the 28-year-old leapt 8.35m to record his longest effort on British soil.

The mark was all the more impressive considering he had been struggling with an injury in the build-up to the event, leaving him fearing a below par performance.

“I was absolutely over the moon, it's always great to win a competition, I knew it was going to be tough so I am chuffed to bits,” said Rutherford, who is targeting success at this summer’s World Championships in Beijing.

“I was holding an injury so I wasn't sure if it was going to happen but in the end I only had to take three jumps and one of them was the longest I have ever jumped in the UK so I'm really happy with that.

“It's always good to have a half-decent performance to be honest and I don't think I have ever won here so it's great.

“To come out and put that performance down was brilliant and there were some great performances.

“I love jumping in front of a British crowd, I had that at the Olympics and it sparked everything for me.”

© Sportsbeat 2015