Flop
& Music
Maciej Petruczenko
8 February 2001 Spala - Polands long time international star Artur Partyka won the VII High Jump & Music Indoor Meeting in Spala last year beating the world champion Vyacheslav Voronin of Russia and setting a new competition record with 2.37m.
Unfortunately, Partyka, the European champion and Atlanta 96 Olympic silver medallist resigned from Olympic competition in Sydney. After a long break he returned to the international scene last week with a poor 2.10m. Nevertheless, Partyka hopes to perform well in the VIII High Jump Meeting to be held on Friday, 9 February in Spala, 100 kilometres from Warsaw.
His strongest opponents will be Cuban record holder Javier Sotomayor, former Olympic champion Charles Austin of USA and current Olympic champion Sergey Kliugin (RUS). The current World champion Vyacheslav Voronin of Russia withdrew from the competition citing a knee injury.
The 1999 World champion Ukraines Inga Babakova, European champion Monica Iagar-Dinescu of Roumania, Bulgarias Venelina Veneva and European indoor champion Kajsa Bergqvist of Sweden are considered as favourites in the womens event. The meetings record holder is Bulgarias Stefka Kostadinowa with 2.01m set five years ago.
A mens 60m hurdles race will be staged as an additional event with the Olympic champion Anier Garcia of Cuba leading the line up.