Kajsa Bergqvist celebrating in Munich (© Getty Images)
MonteCarloWhatever happens to the weather in Birmingham, UK, on Sunday 16 March, the competitive atmosphere in the National Indoor Arena (NIA) the venue for the 9th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics (14-16 March), is certain to be hot for the final of the women’s High Jump, as performances in this event have been at boiling point throughout this indoor season.
In the first week of 2003, the previously unheralded Anna Chicherova had surprisingly leapt to a Russian indoor record of 2.04m, a performance which set the scene for rest of the season.
To date, no fewer than six women have cleared 2.00m, and while five of these jumpers are from Russia, and only two squad places are available per nation, this by no means diminishes the prospect of a magnificent final in Birmingham.
After yesterday’s Russian Championships, in which four women cleared 2.00m, it would seem that Olympic champion Yelena Yelesina - who cleared 2.02m to win the national title - and Chicherova - also 2.02m but second on count-back to Yelesina - will represent Russia at the World Indoor Championships. There they will face Swedish record holder (2.03m) Kajsa Bergqvist, the defending World Indoor champion, who jumps at her own national championships this weekend.
In Moscow yesterday, Yelesina said of her national championships win - “I was in a difficult situation, my rivals had better results than me this season. But the younger girls could not handle the stress as well as me. I was the most experienced of them all and this helped me to win. Now I am going to get a medal at the World Indoor Championships.”
Bergqvist, after her 2.02m stadium record in Birmingham’s NIA at the Energizer Euroseries meeting last week (21 Feb) stated –
"I felt great today and we had great support from the crowds, and I am really looking forward to the World Championships. Getting the stadium record is really special and a great build up for the World Championships. I am going to have at least two more competitions before coming back and I hope to jump very high before the championships so I can concentrate on winning."
IAAF
