JUMPS Preview – World Athletics Final

  The fifth edition of the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final takes place in Stuttgart, Germany, on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 September. We continue our event category previews with the JUMPS.

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The entry list of the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final (WAF) is decided according to the World Athletics Tour (WAT) Standings. The top 7 athletes with the greatest number of points from their five best results (4 for throws) will qualify for each event of the WAF. For races of 1500m and over, 11 athletes will be qualified. The IAAF reserves the right to invite a maximum of 1 wild-card Athlete per event.

It is a condition that athletes have scored points in at least 3 meetings, and in case of a tie the athlete with best seasonal best qualify for the Final. There have also been a number of Area Permit Meetings at which points could be scored for the World Athletics Final.

After the last qualifying meeting, the IAAF Golden League meeting in Berlin (Sunday 16 September), the process began to contact all the athletes concerned 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 final World Athletics Tour Standings 2007

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Men

High Jump

As the recently-minted World champion Donald Thomas clearly illustrated in Osaka, the High Jump can often cause conventional wisdom to fall flat on its face. The least experienced in the field, the precocious Bahamian defeated a solid field with a first attempt clearance at 2.35. Though less consistent than the rest of the field likely to gather in Stuttgart, there’s no reason to believe that he won’t come through again.

The most consistent, and most experienced is Sweden’s Olympic champion Stefan Holm. The Swede built a strong stream of momentum in his lead-up to Osaka, winning six straight competitions, steadily improving technically, only to finish fourth after a perfect scorecard until the decisive 2.35 which was too high for him on that day. A fierce competitor, Holm will come to Stuttgart with the most to prove.

In a somewhat lack lustre year in the event, Thomas and Holm are two of just four men who have cleared 2.35 this season. The others are Russian Yaroslav Rybakov and Kyriakos Ioannou of Cyprus, the silver and bronze medallists in Osaka. Tired from post-championship celebrations, Ioannou is reportedly leaning against Stuttgart, which could open the door for American Jesse Williams, defending WAF champion Linus Thornblad of Sweden, or Cuba’s 2005 winner Victor Moya.

Pole Vault

Even before his silver medal winning performance at the World Championships two years ago in Helsinki, Brad Walker was on a rapid rise to the upper echelons of the Pole Vault. As if a natural progression, he took the World indoor title in Moscow last year and followed up in Osaka with a step to the top of the podium. While his event is wildly unpredictable, Walker looks to be the man to beat in Stuttgart.

With three of the year’s five best vaults - including a 5.95 and 5.92, the top-two - the American has been more consistent at the top end of the world lists, with more clearances of 5.85 or better - five in all - than anyone else.

Home court advantage could come into play, with any of Germany’s solid triumvirate - Osaka bronze medallist Danny Ecker, Tim Lobinger, and Bjorn Otto - looking to capitalize. Otto has jumped 5.90, Ecker 5.87 and Lobinger 5.83 this season, while Ecker will be carrying the momentum of his 5.86 victory in Berlin. Australian Steve Hooker, only seventh in Osaka, has cleared 5.87 this summer, and could also be in the mix.

Long Jump

In Osaka, the men’s Long Jump proved the old adage of, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” With Irving Saladino leading from round three, Andrew Howe did him one better, reaching 8.47 in the final round, an Italian national record. Saladino responded with a national record of his own in the final round of the competition, reaching 8.57, proving that the Panamanian has the competitive drive to match his stellar record in recent years.

Indeed, Saladino has eight competitions this year, has shown remarkable consistency, and as last year, will be the man to beat as the Osaka podium trio reunites in Stuttgart.

Howe hasn’t competed since Osaka, and remains a question mark for Stuttgart. Neither has bronze medallist Dwight Phillips, whose streak of World titles was abruptly ended at two in Osaka. The American champion, who led a U.S. podium sweep at the 2004 Olympic Games has repeatedly said over the past few seasons that he was looking forward to more competition. Over the past two years it has clearly arrived, and losing his World title might be the impetus Phillips needed to regain the form he displayed a few seasons ago.

Triple Jump

Portugal’s Nelson Evora produced one of the biggest surprises in Osaka with his 17.74 national record, a substantial career best, to take World gold. Second in Zurich and Berlin and third in Brussels, Evora hasn’t been as fortunate since returning to Europe from Japan, and will be looking at Stuttgart as a competition to end his coming out season on the highest of notes.

U.S. champion Aarik Wilson, fifth in Osaka, has been the most consistent on the World Athletics Tour circuit, topped by a personal best 17.58 to win in London, and most recently edged Evora in Berlin. He too will be looking to make amends after missing the podium in Osaka.

Jadel Gregorio, Brazil’s Pan-American Games champion, finally produced a big outdoor jump away from home to take silver in Osaka, where he leaped 17.59. He hasn’t produced a victory since his triumph in Rio, however, he two will be looking to end the season on a high. After back-to-back WAF runner-up finishes, a victory this weekend would fit nicely into his CV.

American Walter Davis, the 2005 World champion, hasn’t been as consistent in 2007 as in the past, and is still looking for a big jump, and he too will be looking to move up from back-to-back third place WAF showings.

WOMEN

High Jump

Blanka Vlasic has won 16 of her 17 competitions this season, topped two metres in all but two of those, has cleared 2.04 or better six times  - nobody else has once - and has made jumping at a would-be World record 2.10 nearly standard fare all summer. With the exception of Yelena Isinbayeva (see below), there will be no clearer favourites in Stuttgart this weekend.

Should the 23-year-old Croatian falter, Italian record holder medallist Antonietta DiMartino, her joint Osaka silver medallist Anna Chicherova and her Russian compatriot Olympic champion Yelena Slesarenko, will be looking to pick up the pieces.

Pole Vault

Like Vlasic, this year’s Stuttgart title is Yelena Isinbayeva’s to lose. The only thing the 25-year-old Russian, who clinched half of the IAAF Golden League Jackpot in Berlin last Sunday, hasn’t done this year is raise her own World record of 5.02m which has now stood for more than two years. As Isinbayeva hinted in Berlin, that too may end in Stuttgart. “In Stuttgart I want to jump the World record,” she said. “Victory only is not enough for me any more.”

Former World record holder Svetlana Feofanova, one of three women to clear 4.80 this season – a height Isinbayeva has managed in nine competitions -looks the most likely to defeat her compatriot this year, but in reality has come close only once, in Zurich, and that was due more to Isinbayeva’s admitted lack of focus. Early in the season, American Jenn Stuczynski looked to be the Olympic and World champion’s biggest threats, with her 4.88 and 4.91 clearances. But a series of ailments have slowed the American record holder in the latter half of the summer.

Katerina Badurova improved the Czech national record to 4.75 to finish second in Osaka, but an upset for the 24-year-old is all but out of the question.

Long Jump

Doubling has become almost as commonplace for Tatyana Lebedeva as victory has for her compatriot Isinbayeva. The 31-year-old took top honours in Osaka in the Long Jump, reaching 7.03 to lead a Russian podium sweep, before coming back to finish second in the Triple Jump. In Stuttgart last year, Lebedeva was even more successful, winning both jumps to head home $60,000 richer. There’s little reason to believe she won’t be attempting to duplicate that triumph once again this weekend.

It’s unclear whether her Osaka podium mates, Lyudmila Kolchanova and Tatyana Kotova, the 2005 WAF winner, will be joining her in Stuttgart, thus the leading contenders look to be another compatriot, Oksana Udmurtova and Brazil’s Keila Costa.

Triple Jump

In the Triple Jump, Lebedeva’s chore will be considerably more difficult. Yargelis Savigne, at just 22 came of age this season after her world-leading 15.28 career best to reach Osaka gold. The Pan-American Games champion has collected three victories in as many outings since her Osaka triumph, and clearly has momentum on her side. In her last competition, however, Lebedeva reached a solid 14.97 to win in Rovereto.

Slovenian national record holder Marija Sestak (14.92) has been consistent this summer, finishing fifth in Osaka, 16 centimetres behind Anna Pyatykh’s 14.88, though the Russian has been losing form since her season’s best in Osaka. Xie Limei of China, reached an Asian record 14.73 in Bangkok, and finished eighth in Osaka, and could be in the mix.

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF