Michal Bieniek of Poland competes during the Men's High Jump Final (© Getty Images)
The second edition of Pedro’s Cup men’s High Jump competition in Lodz (Sat 9 Feb), similar to last year featured all of Poland’s best jumpers as well as a good international field. On this occasion, unlike in 2007, it was a Pole who came out on top.
The 23-year-old Michal Bieniek won the contest with a clearance of 2.26 in jump-off against the Czech Svatoslav Ton, both jumpers having cleared 2.24 in the competition proper. Oskari Frösen of Finland took third place, also with a clearance of 2.24.
The competition, organised by Poland’s former High Jump star Artur Partyka, was somewhat weakened by the late withdrawal of Sweden’s Linus Thornblad, who recently cleared 2.34m. This left a field without a clear favourite, but with several competitors still looking capable of jumps in excess of 2.30m.
The start of the competition suggested that top-class results were in store, as none of the jumpers were eliminated by the time the bar reached 2.20. This height, however, proved too much for four out of the eleven men. One of the pre-meet favourites, Andriy Sokolovskiy of Ukraine, came close to elimination at this point, but managed to save himself with his final attempt. At this point, only three jumpers – Bieniek, Ton and the 18-year old Sylwester Bednarek – had clean jumping cards.
The next height of 2.24 proved to be decisive. Bieniek, looking very impressive as he had on all his earlier jumps, cleared first time. He was immediately followed by Ton, who also went clear, although with much less to spare. Frösen took the bar down on his first attempt, but in the second he also cleared by a margin suggesting 2.30-plus potential.
All the other jumpers were eliminated at this height, with the exception of young Bednarek, who after failing once, decided to take his remaining jumps at 2.28, one centimetre higher than Artur Partyka’s national junior record. At the recent national junior championship, Bednarek came very close to clearing this height. This time, however, he was not able to make a convincing attempt at the record.
Bieniek was the only other jumper attempting 2.28, as both Ton and Frösen chose to pass straight on to the next height. The Pole, no longer looking as good as he had earlier in the competition, had three close attempts but was not able to go clear. Still in joint lead with Ton, he then watched as the Finn and the Czech each took three attempts at 2.30m, neither getting too close to clearing the bar.
The competition thus went into overtime, as Bieniek and Ton were once again called to jump. Both failed at 2.28, the first height of the jump-off. The Polish jumper once again had a close failure, whereas the Czech, now jumping with a sprained ankle, was less impressive.
Finally, with the bar down to 2.26m, Bieniek, spurred on by the 1976 Olympic champion Jacek Wszola and the rest of the audience, cleared without touching the bar. Ton, jumping second, failed with another sub-par effort.
The winning height was 4 centimetres down on the World Indoor Championship qualifying mark, but given it was his first competition of the season, this is a promising result for Bieniek, who set an outdoor PB of 2.36 shortly after his 21st birthday in 2005 and will be hoping to get near that this year.
The Lodz competition served as a prelude to the second Pedro’s Cup meet, which will take place in Bydgoszcz on 20 February, this time with two events on the programme. That meet is due to feature many of the world’s top high jumpers, including World champion Donald Thomas, former world champion Yuri Krymarenko and the Russian Yaroslav Rybakov. Olympic gold medalist Stefan Holm. However, even more highly expected is the women’s pole vault with Yelena Isinbayeva, Svetlana Feofanova, Monika Pyrek and Anna Rogowska.
Results:
1 Michal Bieniek (Poland) 2.26
2 Svatoslav Ton (Czech Republic) 2.24
3 Oskari Frosen (Finland) 2.24
4 Sylwester Bednarek (Poland) 2.20
5 Oleksandr Nartov (Ukraine) 2.20
6 (tie) Robert Wolski (Poland) 2.20, Andriy Sokolovskiy (Ukraine) 2.20
8 (tie) Marcin Glaubert (Poland) 2.15, Aleksander Walerianczyk (Poland) 2.15
10 Viktor Shapoval (Ukraine) 2.15
11 Grzegorz Sposob (Poland) 2.10
