News14 Sep 2008


In a season of mainly ups and a few downs, Vlasic ends on a high

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Blanka Vlasic equals the World Athletics Final competition record of 2.01m to record her 36th consecutive competition over two metres (© Getty Images)

The beauty of track and field and why we all watch it is for its sheer unpredictability.

Favourites sometimes fall, red-hot certainties can sometimes have an off day, underdogs can occasionally prosper.

No one better epitomise the unpredictability of sport than Croatia's Blanka Vlasic who has won 37 of her last 39 competitions, but unfortunately not the two most important - the Olympic Games in Beijing and the sixth and final round of the AF Golden Golden in Brussels.

Failure to win the former to Tia Hellebaut, caused her miss out on Olympic gold, a honour which many assumed to be a formality. Defeat in the latter cost her a share of the $1m Golden League jackpot. Ouch!

The athletics public has not been short of an opinion or two on those two 'failures' yet criticism of Vlasic, one of the sport's most charismatic and engaging personalities, would be harsh.

Point to prove in Stuttgart

In Beijing she cleared 2.05m - the greatest height in Olympic history not to win gold. Meanwhile, in Brussels she faced the wet conditions which she dislikes so intensely. Any question of mental fragility would also be very churlish, particularly as she won the World title with such panache in Osaka last summer.

Here at the IAAF World Athletics Final she needed to prove a point. She was taking on both Hellebaut and Friedrich and needed to go into the off-season with the knowledge of victory against the pair and she delivered as she so often does.

"It was very important for me to win this World Athletics Final," said Vlasic. "I saw so many Croatian flags in the crowd, which motivated me. The most important thing is I won today and that I jumped over 2.00m, which I did today. It would have been a bit of a disappointment for me to have jumped lower, because I finished all my competitions with a height over two metres."

Inside the Mercedes-Benz Arena the eight finalists struggled in chilly temperatures of just 12c and Vlasic - who had a perfect record up to and including 1.99m - cleared 2.01m at the third time of asking to beat Anna Chicherova to maintain her remarkable sequence of having cleared 2.00m or more at each of the 23 competitions - both indoors and out - she has competed in this year.

But there was little chance of Vlasic treating the fans to further jumps once she had wrapped up the competition.

"I was too cold, and too tired," she told the media after the competition. "I travelled on Friday and in Zagreb (her last competition before Stuttgart) I did 19 jumps, so I was very tired and it was very dangerous to jump in this cold weather. I can spend a wonderful vacation now. I won't let you know where I will spend my vacation. It was a long season and I am happy that it is over now. My goal for next year is just to stay healthy and, of course, the World Championships in Berlin."

Remains the woman to beat

For Harald Edletzberger, the manager of Vlasic, there was no doubt as to her standing in the sport.

"She is definitely the No. 1 in the high jump, so I don't think it will change at all," she explained. "We knew it was always possible for people to beat her (Vlasic). It was never a discussion that she is unbeatable. The important thing is she keeps that level for the whole year. She will now take a holiday and mentally rest and then resume her training."

He also denied her heavy competitive programme this year contributed to her disappointments in Beijing and Brussels and he expected a similar schedule for next season.

"That was not the problem because she said, 'I need the competition because in training I can't jump that height'. She was not tired at all. We have the schedule for next year and it stays the same."

There was no danger, however, that Vlasic and her team will be resting on her laurels. The World Championships and the maintanence of her status at No. 1 is no easy task and they will be striving for more next season.

"In my personal opinion there is a slight technical mistake which can happen sometimes when she didn't get over higher heights. There are several parts (to her approach to training and competition) which can be improved," added Edletzbeger ominously for the rest.

Steve Landells for the IAAF

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