Hestrie Cloete celebrates winning the high jump final (© Getty Images)
In the sixth part of their end of year review, athletics statisticians A. Lennart Julin and Mirko Jalava continue with their appraisal of this year, here concentrating on the highlights of the jumping competitions which took place in 2003.
MEN - Jumps
High Jump
Looking at the general level of results men’s high jumping – contrary to its female counterpart - had a quiet, normal year in 2003. The only thing to be called extraordinary was the sudden rise of the 20-year-old Pole Aleksander Walerianczyk from “nowhere” to the top of the World List with his stupendous 2.36 recorded on home soil at the European U23 Championships in July.
However, Walerianczyk never in any way managed to confirm that “top-of-the-world” capacity in his following competitions. In his four competitions on foreign soil – among them the World Championships and the legendary Eberstadt meet – he was very much a 2.25’ish kind of jumper.
Yet 2003 became a year were a couple of jumpers of similar young age established themselves firmly into the senior elite, Jacques Freitag and Jermaine Mason.
Freitag has been regarded as a major prospect since he cleared 2.30 three years ago. However, a major ankle injury demanding major reconstructive surgery in the summer of 2002 had put big question marks on whether Freitag would be able to fulfil his early promise. An injury to the take-off foot means serious trouble for any high jumper – and if you are 2.07 tall and weigh close to 100kg the demands on the foot are incredible.
Freitag’s return to competition also was somewhat “hesitant” but at the Rome GL in mid-July all doubts about the foot were finally erased when he cleared 2.35. However, he was still lacking technical consistency and mixed brilliant attempts with very mediocre ones. The same could to some extent be said also about Jamaican Jermaine Mason but the 20-year who competed quite extensively still proved consistent at heights above his pre-2003 PB of 2.27.
If one was looking for consistency it was once more provided by Swede Stefan Holm. After a perfect indoor season – winning all eight meets including the World Indoors and clearing 2.31+ in all but the season opener – he amassed ten 2.30+ clearances outdoors - double the score for Freitag - but outdoors didn’t really take the important victories.
At the Rome Golden League and Eberstadt the winner was Freitag, in the World Athletics Final Yaroslav Rybakov, at the DN Galan in Stockholm it was Mason …. so it was probably just logical that on the really big day – the World Championships final in Paris – the gold went to Freitag, and Holm had to settle for the silver medal.
Yet whatever happened to last year’s World Junior champion Andra Manson after that magnificent 2.31-triumph in Kingston? His best this summer was 2.22 putting him close to the bottom of the 2003 top-100-list.
High Jump - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 15 Dec 2003
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points
1. Stefan HOLM 76 SWE 1335
2. Jermaine MASON 83 JAM 1309
3. Jacques FREITAG 82 RSA 1296
4. Yaroslav RYBAKOV 80 RUS 1290
5. Mark BOSWELL 77 CAN 1273
6. Jamie NIETO 76 USA 1272
7. Andriy SOKOLOVSKIY 78 UKR 1234
8. Matt HEMINGWAY 72 USA 1232
9. Dragutin TOPIÆ 71 SCG 1225
10. Mikhayil TSVETKOV 80 RUS 1216
Pole Vault
The general trends of the Pole Vault year were analysed in detail on this website already about a month ago in an article headlined “The changing face of men’s Pole Vaulting” click here for link. To this there could, however, be added some comments on individual vaulters.
The major revelation of the year from the international perspective was of course Italy’s Giuseppe Gibilisco. After having been “buried” in the anonymous 5.70-bracket for some years Gibilisco at age 24 suddenly emerged in Rome with a string of PBs and national records culminating in 5.82! That, however, looked to have been very much a freak occurance as his next three international meets all ended below 5.60.
But then suddenly everything “clicked” again at the best possible moment. After two misses at 5.75 in the World Championships final he “desperately” saved his last attempt for 5.80. Not only did he clear but he also went on making 5.85 and 5.90 on first attempts to become World Champion!
Gibilisco is coached by Vitaliy Petrov - the man that made Sergey Bubka the greatest ever in the event - and until this season had seemed stuck at a worthy yet not brilliant level, but Paris showed anything is possible.
However generally, Pole Vault history seems to indicate that it is important to “get off to a good start”, i.e. to reach 5.50+ heights already as a teenager. From that perspective it is worth noting that Russian Artiom Kuptsov by clearing 5.75 moved into 2nd place (behind Maksim Tarasov) on the World Junior All-Time list!
Pole Vault - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 15 Dec 2003
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points
1. Okkert BRITS 73 RSA 1356
2. Tim LOBINGER 72 GER 1348
3. Dmitriy MARKOV 75 AUS 1333
4. Giuseppe GIBILISCO 79 ITA 1308
5. Derek MILES 72 USA 1300
6. Nick HYSONG 71 USA 1299
7. Romain MESNIL 77 FRA 1291
8. Jeff HARTWIG 67 USA 1271
9. Aleksandr AVERBUKH 74 ISR 1263
10. Patrik KRISTIANSSON 77 SWE 1260
Long Jump
For almost the last two decades if you asked the questions, “how many 8m-jumpers were there this year?” and “what distance was needed to reach the world-wide championships final” you would have got the respective answers “about 60” and “7.95-8.00”. 2003 was no exception to this rule, so it is obvious that the Long Jump has reached a very stable plateau number-wise.
Iván Pedroso, came to the Paris World Championships this year with a streak of no less than four consecutive triumphs at that level but now the magic was broken in advance due to injury and after one aborted attempt in the qualification Pedroso gave up his dream.
The final for a long time was a rather lacklustre event but finally caught fire in round 5 when USA’s Dwight Phillips’ leading 8.22 was equalled by Spain’s Yago Lamela and surpassed by James Beckford’s 8.29, before Phillips reclaimed the top spot with 8.32.
That it is the shortest winning distance in a World Championships is an obvious fact, but there is more to that story.It should be pointed out that all the previous titles have been claimed by Carl Lewis, Mike Powell and Ivan Pedroso, i.e. three of true all-time greats and the only three jumpers to ever surpass 8.90 (with or without illegal wind-assistance). 8.33 is a mark that would have given a silver medal at four and a bronze at two of the previous eight editions of the meet!
In an event without any “superstar”, Phillips is probably the most consistent in championship meets of an evenly matched group of top jumpers, and he also picked up the gold medal in the equally tightly contested final at the World Indoor Championships in March.
Revelation of the year was Ghana’s 20 years-old Ignisious Gaisah who finished 4th in Paris and 3rd in the World Athletics Final after a summer of remarkably consistent jumping at the 8.15-8.20 level. It will be very interesting to follow Gaisah’s career in upcoming years. Physically he is not the big powerful type of jumper, instead he is flying high and far by being quick, small and light, i.e. the successful Pedroso Long Jump concept.
Long Jump - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 15 Dec 2003
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points
1. Dwight PHILLIPS 77 USA 1348
2. Yago LAMELA 77 ESP 1300
3. Savanté STRINGFELLOW 78 USA 1283
4. Hussein Taher AL SABEE 79 KSA 1280
5. Egnatius GAISAH 83 GHA 1279
6. James BECKFORD 75 JAM 1249
7. Volodimir ZYUSKOV 81 UKR 1244
8. Louis TSATOUMAS 82 GRE 1225
9. Luis Felipe MELIS 79 CUB 1220
9. Oleksiy LUKASHEVICH 77 UKR 1220
Triple Jump
Briton Jonathan Edwards’s truly exceptional gift for triple jumping was proven once more this year when he - age 37 - opened his outdoor season in Gateshead by bounding 17.61 and following it up with a narrow foul that could have been over 18 metres! However, although he still could find some amazing jumps, age had caught up with him, the consistency shown in years like 1995 and 1996 had gone.
And consistency is still almost always the winning concept. This was a truth that was emphatically proven this year by the new “Mr. Consistency” Christian Olsson (SWE). Almost regardless of weather and competition he produced 17.50-jumps whenever he stepped on the runway – and if there was competition he put on another quarter-metre or so.
When Romania’s Marian Oprea threw down the gauntlet in Chania in early June with an opening 17.50, Olsson responded with 17.77 (outdoor PB), when Edwards did his 17.61 in Gateshead the answer was 17.92w and when it really, really mattered in Paris the Swede killed off all opposition with a 17.72 first attempt! But he would have won also on his consistency as he also had jumps of 17.52, 17.52, 17.50 and 17.34, which all of them would have sufficed for gold!
With Edwards spraining his ankle severely a few weeks before Paris, there simply was no one around capable of challenging Olsson concerning the top position. All the top Americans – Walter Davis, Kenta Bell and Tim Rusan – were injury troubled during the summer and British No 2 Phillips Idowu took the whole year off due to a heal injury.
But injuries are temporary, and there is also an interesting group of jumpers even younger than the 23 year-old Olsson. Oprea who was consistent at 17.20+ all summer but not fully fit in Paris, Belarussian Dmitriy Valyukevich, shocked everybody by improving over half a metre to 17.57 at the European U23 Championships, and the two latest Cuban talents Yoandri Betanzos and David Giralt, handled their first major international senior test (Paris) brilliantly: 2nd and 4th.
So despite his imposing superiority in 2003, it would be very unwise for Olsson to take anything for granted when it comes to 2004!
Triple Jump - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 15 Dec 2003
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points
1. Christian OLSSON 80 SWE 1398
2. Jadel GREGÓRIO 80 BRA 1297
3. Kenta BELL 77 USA 1291
4. Marian OPREA 82 ROM 1285
5. Walter DAVIS 79 USA 1279
6. Jonathan EDWARDS 66 GBR 1278
7. Leevan SANDS 81 BAH 1277
8. Francis Yoandri BETANZOS 82 CUB 1266
9. Tim RUSAN 77 USA 1247
10.Ivailo RUSENOV 79 BUL 1234
WOMEN - Jumps
The women’s jumping events are doing well. This season it was especially High Jump of the four events which saw much improvement at the top. During the outdoor season 12 athletes went over 2 metres, last year there were only five at that level.
The Pole Vault, which still must be considered a new event, again had a World record broken and also many new names at the top level.
After a quiet period, the Triple Jump also went ahead again. This season jumps below 15 metres were not considered enough to win a major championship unlike in 2002.
The only one of the jumping events, which is having trouble with quality is the Long Jump. This event and the level of competition in the World Championships was already a topic of conversation in Edmonton, and Paris did not prove one bit of improvement.
High Jump
Women’s High Jump had one of its best years looking at just numbers. 12 athletes over 2 metres is a very strong total, but it was not just numbers which got better.
Competition at the top was fierce, World Indoor Champion Kajsa Bergqvist (SWE), the world leading jumper in 2002, jumped an early 2.01m in Ostrava, but then seemed to lose her rhythm completely for the next four competitions.
Although already clear that she had serious technical problems, the Swede still bounced back to go over fantastic 2.06m in Poznan, the same meet where she jumped 2.05m in 2002. But this was the last bright moment for Bergqvist, after the Poznan meeting she again lost her form and was only once able to go over 2m again, fortunately in the World Championships final to get a bronze medal.
In the middle and later part of the season, it was reigning World Champion Hestrie Cloete (RSA), who really bettered her earlier marks of the season. Her start was not absolutely fabulous as she did not clear 2 metres in the first 14 (!) meets of the year. The Stockholm competition at the start of August was the turning point, Cloete won that meeting by clearing 2.01m. This was to be the first of seven straight meets over 2m and the South African also won her last eight finals of the season.
Cloete’s best result came in the Paris World final where her clearance equalled her world lead and African record of 2.06m, and retained the title she won in 2001.
In 2003 there were 26 women over 1.95m, which is even more than 22 in 2000. In 2002 and 2001 there were 17, so the depth is much stronger than in recent years.
High Jump - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 15 Dec 2003
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points
1. Hestrie CLOETE 78 RSA 1437
2. Kajsa BERGQVIST 76 SWE 1366
3. Vita PALAMAR 77 UKR 1349
4. Blanka VLAŠIĆ 83 CRO 1323
5. Marina KUPTSOVA 81 RUS 1319
6. Inga BABAKOVA 67 UKR 1315
7. Yelena YELESINA 70 RUS 1300
8. Anna CHICHEROVA 82 RUS 1299
9. Amy ACUFF 75 USA 1298
10. Viktoriya STYOPINA 76 UKR 1269
Pole Vault
Before the start of the season, the women’s Pole Vault seemed to be heading for the same outcome as at the Edmonton Worlds in 2001, that is, a duel between Svetlana Feofanova (RUS) and Stacy Dragila (USA).
However, Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia the 2000 World junior champion and European senior silver medallist from Munich 2002, came to the 2003 season at a new level. Isinbayeva took second in the World Indoor Championships and continued in the same manner outdoors. In middle of July, she broke the World record with 4.82m in Gateshead and went on to enter Paris as one of the winner candidates, although she had only took an equal third place from the Russian Championships, her last competition before the Worlds in Paris.
However, the World record holder seemed quite nervous throughout the competition in Paris and had to be content with third place behind compatriot Svetlana Feofanova (RUS), who had also taken the World indoor title in March.
In general, women’s Pole Vault made long strides ahead during 2003. The number of competitions at 4.60m or higher was 37, while in 2002 it had been ‘only’ 22.
One other interesting point was that the World University Games title was won with 4.70m, at the same time as the World Championships in Paris were being contested. This height was enough for silver in the Paris World Championships, but the University winner Tatyana Polnova was not able to get to the Paris team because of the high standard of the event in Russia.
Overall, in 2003, there were 31 athletes in the world at 4.40m or higher, 2002 had 29, so the event in this respect was pretty much at the same level as last year.
Pole Vault - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 15 Dec 2003
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points
1. Svetlana FEOFANOVA 80 RUS 1375
2. Yelena ISINBAYEVA 82 RUS 1343
3. Tatyana POLNOVA 79 RUS 1293
4. Stacy DRAGILA 71 USA 1283
5. Annika BECKER 81 GER 1271
6. Monika PYREK 80 POL 1263
7. Yvonne BUSCHBAUM 80 GER 1212
8. Yelena BELYAKOVA 76 RUS 1196
9. Pavla HAMÁČKOVÁ 78 CZE 1184
10. Kellie SUTTLE 73 USA 1174
Long Jump
The Long Jump has easily been the weakest women’s jumping event for sometime and 2003 proved to be no different. There has been nothing special about long jumping in the junior category either, so the quality of the event cannot be expected to rise in the near future.
Tatyana Kotova (RUS), who jumped a magical 7.42m last year, entered the World Championships with the best mark, 6.94m, but the Russian was already in trouble in the qualification round. Kotova finally barely qualified with her 6.56m, only 3cm more than the last qualifier.
However, the Russian lead the final until the last round with 6.74m, but with her last attempt Eunice Barber (FRA) took the win with huge support from the home crowd. Her distance 6.99m was her season’s best at that point, and 25cm more than Kotova who took the silver.
That is pretty much all that there is to tell about the 2003 Long Jump season, with the exception of course of Indian Anju George’s historical bronze medal in Paris, and Barber’s 7.05m national record at the IAAF World Athletics Final.
The fact that 6.53m was enough for the final in the World Championships shows that the event has dropped to a very low level.
However, some progress was seen in the depth, there were 23 athletes over 6.70m, last year we had only 17, in 2001 - 22 and 2000, the Olympic year, 36.
Long Jump - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 15 Dec 2003
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points
1. Tatyana KOTOVA 76 RUS 1308
2. Eunice BARBER 74 FRA 1269
3. Elva GOULBOURNE 80 JAM 1256
4. Maurren Higa MAGGI 76 BRA 1248
5. Olga RUBLYOVA 74 RUS 1238
6. Grace UPSHAW 75 USA 1222
6. Anju Bobby GEORGE 77 IND 1222
8. Tünde VASZI 72 HUN 1209
9. Jade JOHNSON 80 GBR 1188
10. Bronwyn THOMPSON 78 AUS 1187
Triple Jump
Thanks to the return of 2001 World Champion Tatyana Lebedeva (who had taken time out to have a baby between Edmonton and Paris) and also the better form of Yamile Aldama (CUB), the state of triple jumping improved. Whereas the 2002 world lead was 14.95m, in 2003 there were 18 competitions better than this mark by three athletes.
Aldama was the best at the start of the season, but she could not take part in the World Championships because she was in the process of attempting to switch national allegiances.
Lebedeva found her jumping form in early July and ever since then was the number one favourite in Paris, along with 2002 world leading jumper Francoise Mbango of the Cameroon whose first career 15m jump came just prior to the World Championships.
The Paris World Championships final really did crown a good year in this event. Mbango really challenged reigning champion Lebedeva, jumping to an African record of 15.05m, but the Russian was stronger, her winning performance 15.18m was also her season’s best. Magdelin Martinez (ITA) was able to better her national record to 14.90m to take the bronze medal in the competition.
The interesting thing is that although there were much better results at the top, the depth did not see anything like the same kind of improvement, in 2002 there were 19 athletes at 14.30m or better, while in 2003, there were 22.
Triple Jump - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 15 Dec 2003
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points
1. Tatyana LEBEDEVA 76 RUS 1427
2. Yamilé ALDAMA 72 CUB 1394
3. Francoise MBANGO ETONE 76 CMR 1384
4. Magdelín MARTÍNEZ 76 ITA 1334
5. Anna PYATYKH 81 RUS 1313
6. Kéné NDOYE 78 SEN 1284
7. Olena GOVOROVA 73 UKR 1275
8. Adelina GAVRILĂ 78 ROM 1272
9. Yelena OLEYNIKOVA 76 RUS 1243
10. Baya RAHOULI 79 ALG 1233
