News06 Jul 2003


Vlasic set for 'home-meet' in Zagreb after Paris triumph

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Blanka Vlasic jumping to a 1.99m win in Paris Golden League (© Getty Images)

 Only three days after her surprising triumph on the Golden League meeting in Paris, young Croatian High Jump heroine Blanka Vlasic will compete at her home-meet in Zagreb at the IAAF Grand Prix meeting (Monday 7 July).

Vlasic is the double World Junior champion and after jumping a personal best (1.99) in Paris and beating most of the world's best including Cloete, she now aims for two metres in Zagreb. The young Croat is in great shape but Cloete is improving too, her 1.99 leap in Paris (lost to Vlasic on count back) was a season's best for the World champion.

America's Amy Acuf and Russian Viktoriya Seryogina will also take part in Monday's competition so women's High Jump will be one of the top events on Zagreb Meeting.

"I must forget Paris and concentrate on Zagreb Meeting. I thing I can be even better than I was on Stade de France, I want to leap over two metres. So I invite everybody to come on the stadium." said Vlasic after she returned to Croatia on Saturday.

Last year in Zagreb, World champion Hestrie Cloete (RSA) beat Kajsa Berqgvist of Sweden - both jumping two metres.

Of the highlights of the meeting - the men's Long Jump, will also offer really great competition, as European silver medallist Sinisa Ergotic will be competing in his hometown.

The Croatian jumper will take on USA's Dwight Phillips, the World Indoor Champion and this year's US Trials winner. Phillips won at the IAAF Super Grand Prix meeting in the Greek town of Trikala (24 June), having jumped an excellent 8.44m!

Apart from Phillips and Ergotic, we will see the European champion Aleksey Lukashevich of Ukraine, the Greeks Louis Tsaotumas and Dimitros Serelis, France's Salim Sdiri, and the Croatian trio Aracic, Pucelj and Bakovic, who are coached by Ergotic.

Other great moments could be offered by the men's 100m where American champion Bernard Williams, Britain's Jason Gardener, Shawn Crawford (USA), Aziz Zakari of Ghana and World Cup champion Uchenna Emedolu of Nigeria all race.

The men's 110 Hurdles - The Memorial Boris Hanzekovic race -  will be graced by Olympic silver medalist Terrence Trammell and fellow Americans Duane Ross and Ron Bramlett, South Africa's Commonwealth Games champion Shaun Bownes, and China's Liu Xiang.

The men's 400 metres Hurdles boasts American champion Eric Thomas against Russia's Boris Gorban and Japan's Dai Tamesui, and the other Americans Joey Woody and Ian Weakly.

The competition programme will start with women's Hammer throw, and this event also has an impressive startlist including the World record holder Mihaela Melinte (ROM), Olympic champion Kamila Skolimowska (POL), France's world season leader Manuela Montebrun, and Croatian World junior champion Ivana Brkljacic.

Marin Sarec for the IAAF

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