Blanka Vlasic celebrates winning the IAAF / VTB Bank Continental Cup in Split (© Getty Images)
Less than two weeks after suffering her first-ever defeat in Samsung Diamond League competition, 2010 World Athlete of the Year Blanka Vlasic will return to action on Friday (24) in familiar surroundings as she takes centre stage in a women's High Jump competition in her hometown of Split, Croatia.
The meeting, staged on the Dalmatian city's Adriatic seaside promenade, or Riva, will be the two-time World indoor and outdoor champion's first appearance in her hometown since her emotional victory at the IAAF/VTB Bank Continental Cup last September when she electrified the crowd with a 2.05m leap, her best of the 2010 outdoor season.
The meeting hopes to build upon the success of two indoor women's-only high jump events staged in 2009 and 2010 when Vlasic managed to attract capacity crowds of more than 12,000 to Split’s Spaladium Arena. On both occasions, the meet boasted the largest indoor athletics crowds assembled anywhere on the planet that season.
The event, however, will hardly be an exhibition for Vlasic, who has won three of her four competitions this season despite struggling with her form and still looking for her first two-metre leap of the year.
Among the challengers will be Swede Emma Green-Tregaro who ended Vlasic's undefeated Samsung Diamond League streak in New York on 11 June where she weathered the wet conditions best, leaping to a 1.94m victory. Green also collected a win at the European Team Championships on Sunday (19), again in less-than-conducive conditions.
The field will also include Russian Svetlana Shkolina, a two metre jumper outdoors last year and indoors this year, most recently the winner of the Moscow Challenge on 12 June with a 1.95m season's best. Others expected to compete include Sweden's Ebba Jungmark, this year's European indoor bronze medallist, and Ana Simic, at 1.92m currently the Croatian No. 2, who took the European Team Championships First League title on Sunday (19) in Vlasic's absence.
The event, which begins at 18:30 CEST, will have seating for 800 spectators, while others can follow the action on two big screens situated along the Riva. The competition will also be broadcast live on Croatian national television.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
