Previews07 Sep 2009


Jumps Preview - IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final

FacebookTwitterEmail

Yelena Isinbayeva sets a World Record of 5.06m in the pole vault in Zurich (© Getty Images)

Thessaloniki, GreeceThe seventh edition of the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final takes place in Thessaloniki, Greece, on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September. We begin our event category previews with the JUMPS.

-------

The entry list of the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final (WAF) is decided according to the IAAF World Athletics Tour (WAT) Standings.

After the conclusion of the last qualifying meeting before the World Athletics Final, the 7 Athletes having the highest number of points with their best 5 results (4 for throws) will qualify for each event of the World Athletics Final. For the races of 1500m and over, 11 athletes will be qualified. The Athletes for the 8th and 12th (1500m and over) position will be invited at the discretion of the IAAF.

It is a condition that athletes have scored points in at least 3 meetings, and in the case of a tie for the qualification for the World Athletics Final, the Athlete with the best seasonal performance will be qualified. The IAAF will extend invitations, at its discretion, upon receipt of refusals or cancellations.

All qualified athletes are contacted to ascertain that they are fit and willing to compete. Not until those answers are received, wild card entries are decided, and the usual technical meeting is held on the day before the World Athletics Final, can the final start list be made available. Consequently, our previews are as accurate as possible before that time.

- Click here for the IAAF World Athletics Tour Standings

- Qualification for the World Athletics Final

Who and how many qualify?
Full qualification rules – downloadable PDF

-------

High Jump – MEN

If you keep a relatively close eye on the High Jump, Yaroslav Rybakov’s is a name you’ve gotten quite accustomed to seeing over the greater part of this decade. Rarely has a major World or continental championship passed without the 28-year-old Russian jumping his way onto the podium. Berlin was even a bigger leap for him figuratively, as he finally captured the World title with a 2.32m leap in rainy conditions.

That consistency has been a key ingredient for Rybakov is evident in his 2009 record, where he has finished first or second in each of his seven competitions this year. That alone makes him a solid contender to repeat his WAF victory from 2003. But there’s been nothing consistent about the men’s High Jump in the WAF in recent years however, as six different men have won at the last six editions.

Three men - Rybakov, his compatriot Ivan Ukhov and American Andra Manson - are tied for the world lead at 2.35m this season, and all have qualified for Thessaloniki. Ukhov, the European indoor champion who scaled 2.40m indoors in February, had a solid pre-Berlin build-up but faltered there, finishing well back in 10th. Manson, the runner-up at the U.S. championships, was just a spot higher than Ukhov in Berlin but displayed good late season form with a 2.33m leap to win in windy conditions in Gateshead eight days ago.

High Jump - WOMEN


Considering the late season momentum that Blanka Vlasic will be bringing with her to the Mediterranean, Croatia’s two-time World champion will be extremely difficult to beat.

The 25-year-old has won 13 of her 15 outings this season, including the dramatic World championship competition in Berlin and more recently, improved her career best to 2.08m in Zagreb (31 August) to take sole possession of the No. 2 spot all-time. Given that the Mediterranean climes here are quite similar to those in her Dalmatian seaside hometown of Split and with conditions expected to be more to her liking, Vlasic has indicated that she’ll be looking to jump very high here, and perhaps yet again take another stab at Stefka Kostadinova’s 22-year-old 2.09m World record. One of her attempts at 2.10m in Zagreb was tantalizingly close.

Expected to be among her chief rivals are Russia’s Anna Chicherova, who took silver in Berlin; Spaniard Ruth Beitia, who has leaped 2.01m this season; American Chaunté Howard; and Italy’s Antonietta Di Martino, who defeated Vlasic in Rome with her second 2.00m leap of the season.

Pole Vault – MEN

One of the most memorable moments at the World championships came in the men’s Pole Vault, where Olympic champion Steve Hooker took the only gamble he could, and won. With injury limiting him to just two leaps, the Australian dug deep to take the title with a 5.90m clearance after a first attempt miss at 5.85m; unfortunately, that lingering injury may sideline him from starting this weekend. Hooker has remained in Europe so he may still compete. Stay tuned.

France has figured prominently in the event this season, first with Renaud Lavillenie, the 22-year-old who joined the six-metre club with a 6.01m clearance in late June, the highest leap of the year. He took bronze in Berlin with a 5.80m effort, finishing behind his compatriot Romain Mesnil, who scaled a season’s best of 5.85m to claim the silver.

Others in the mix include Ukraine’s Maksym Mazuryk, with a 5.80m season’s best and fourth place showing in Berlin, and defending WAF champion Derek Miles of the USA, who’ll be looking to put his Berlin final no-height disappointment behind him.

Pole Vault – WOMEN

She may not have won the world title, but even the woman who did, Poland’s Anna Rogowska, readily conceded that Yelena Isinbayeva is by far the best pole vaulter in the world.

The Russian proved that very clearly just 11 days after her no-height at the World championships by setting yet another World record, her 27th, when she elegantly scaled over 5.06m in Zurich. She’s won seven of her eight competitions, jumped 24 centimetres higher than her closest competitor, and in Brussels on Friday clinched one-third of the $1 million ÅF Golden League Jackpot.

As has been customary in the Isinbayeva age, others fighting for the remaining podium spots include Rogowska, who has cleared 4.80m this season; her compatriot Monika Pyrek, the Berlin co-silver medallist with a 4.78m 2009 best; and Brazilian Fabiana Murer, who raised the South American record to 4.82m this year and was fifth at the World championships. 25-year-old American Chelsea Johnson’s improved consistency was rewarded in Berlin where she cleared a 4.65m season’s best to share silver with Pyrek.

Long Jump – MEN

While there been an overall rise in the quality in jumping this season, the men’s Long Jump has nonetheless been dominated by the resurgence of Dwight Phillips, the American who took a third World title in Berlin last month. The 31-year-old has won eight of his 10 competitions and produced five of the year’s seven longest leaps, topped by his 8.74m career best which moved him up to No. 7 all-time. He’ll start as a strong favourite to collect a third WAF victory.

Godfrey Mokoena has improved by leaps and bounds this season, adding World championships silver to his Olympic and World indoor silvers from last season. In Madrid he broke the African record with an 8.50m leap, and also collected victories at Berlin’s ISTAF, Lausanne, Ostrava and Monaco.

25-year-old Australian Fabrice Lapierre has chiseled together a fine season, capped with his fourth place finish in Berlin. He leapt to a career best of 8.35m in Madrid – he won there with wind-assisted 8.57m jump – and most recently finished second in Gateshead behind Phillips.

Among the best Greek hopes in Thessaloniki is national record holder Loúis Tsátoumas. The 27-year-old hasn’t produced one of his finest campaigns, but does have an 8.21m season’s best to his credit and did reach the Berlin final, where he finished 11th.

Long Jump – WOMEN


Just 22, Brittney Reese has made her first professional season a notable one. With victories in nine of her 12 outings, the American capped her breakout with a sensational 7.10m career best to take World championships gold, the only jumper to break the still formidable seven-metre barrier in Berlin, as well as anywhere this season.

The field behind her is quite crowded, and a surprise challenge could certainly emerge. Her compatriot Funmi Jimoh has been consistent on the World Athletics Tour circuit, and will bring a 6.96m season’s best to Thessaloniki. Despite her fourth place finish in Berlin, Portugal’s Naide Gomes remains one of the world’s best. She jumped 6.99m in London and is the defending WAF champion.

Russians remain a strong force in the event, and this year are led by Elena Sokolova who leaped 6.92m in late July. European Indoor champion Ksenija Balta has improved her consistency, and finished eighth in Berlin.

Triple Jump – MEN

Quite likely, the men’s Triple Jump will feature a rerun of the Berlin final between Olympic and 2007 World champion Nelson Évora of Portugal and the man who succeeded him in Berlin, Briton Phillips Idowu.

In a dramatic competition in the German capital, Idowu, also the Olympic silver medallist, captured the victory with a personal best of 17.73m, one of his seven victories in nine competitions this summer. Évora couldn’t quite respond, reaching 17.55m in the final round to take the silver.

Idowu has a 3-1 edge on the Portuguese this season, and carries a 7-4 lifetime record against his prime competitor.

But there will be others in the hunt. Cuba is a strong force in the event, with Alexis Copello, the Berlin bronze medallist, and David Giralt, who was fifth in Berlin, also expected to compete. Copello has reached 17.65m this season and Girald 17.62m.

Also in the hunt will be Bahamian Leevan Sands (17.32 SB), the Olympic bronze medallist, who was edged by Copello by just four centimetres in Berlin.

Triple Jump – WOMEN

Just 24, Cuba’s Yargelis Savigne has already taken over the reins as the world’s premiere triple jumper. In Berlin, she dominated the competition, winning by 34 centimetres to take her second successive World title. On the way, she’s knocked together an undefeated streak in her 13 competitions, produced 10 of the top 11 jumps of the season, including one of the season's two 15m leaps (15.00m in Athens). In short, a solid bet to repeat her 2007 victory here.

Leading the chase will be her compatriot Mabel Gay and Anna Pyatykh of Russia, the Berlin silver and bronze medallists. Gay has won both of her post-Berlin outings, with her 14.64m leap in Tallinn (25 August) just two centimetres shy of her career best. Pyatykh, who took her second straight World bronze in Berlin, has a 14.67m season’s best, and will start as the defending WAF champion. Her compatriot Tatyana Lebedeva has been slowed by injury this season en route to her sixth place showing in Berlin, but ever the fierce competitor, she has the ability to surprise.

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

Pages related to this article
Disciplines
Loading...