News04 Dec 2009


Vlasic, Friedrich and Ukhov confirmed for Moravian High Jump Tour

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Believe it! Blanka Vlasic after her 2.08m leap in Zagreb (© Zagreb organisers)

Hustopece, Czech RepublicTwotime World champion Blanka Vlasic, her rival Ariane Friedrich and European indoor champion Ivan Ukhov will be headline attractions for next month’s 6th edition of the Moravia High Jump Tour.

Vlasic, also the reigning World champion indoors, will commence her indoor season on 26 January in the eastern Moravian city of Trinec, located near Ostrava, the second of the tour’s two stops. The Croatian is aiming to become the meeting’s first two-metre jumper, gunning for Barbora Lalakova’s 1.97m meet record set in 2008.

Meanwhile Freidrich, the European indoor champion, will headline the first stop in Hustopece for the third consecutive year. The German won last year with a meeting record of 2.00m. This will likely be Friedrich’s second competition of the winter after opening at her regional championships a week before.

Ukhov, also the reigning European indoor champion and a 2.40m jumper last winter, will start as the man to beat. The Russian will be on the slate at both competitions where he is the meet record holder. He cleared 2.36m in Hustopece in 2008 and 2.33m in Trinec in 2009.

Organizers hope that the entire local jumping elite will contest either or both meets, headed by World finalist Jaroslav Baba on the men’s side and the strong group of Iva Strakova, Oldriska Maresova, and Lalakova on the women’s side.

Freitag’s comeback

Of great interest will be the return of 2003 World champion Jacques Freitag of South Africa who confirmed his participation in the series.

A former World youth and World junior champion, Freitag, now 27, last competed in June of 2007.

 The women’s fields will also include St. Lucia’s record holder and multiple Central American and Caribbean champion Laverne Spencer, who has a 1.95m lifetime best.

The tour has evolved into a strong competitive opportunity for younger jumpers, and 2010 will be no exception. Both reigning European junior champions, Russians Sergey Mudrov and Natalya Mamlina, will be competing. Last month Mudrov cleared a Russian junior indoor record of 2.30m, and Mamlina will remain a junior through the end of 2010.

Alfons Juck for the IAAF
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