Yelena Slesarenko (RUS) - women's HJ Qual (© Getty Images)
Yelena Slesarenko became the first female high jumper to hit the magic two-metres level in an indoor meeting in the Czech Republic as her 2.02m performance highlighted the 13th Valosun Brnenska Latka high jump meeting in Brno Tuesday evening (11).
The Athens Olympic champion ended with one respectable, though unsuccessful, attempt at a would-be world-leading 2.05. It marked the fourth competition at two metres or better for the Russian this indoor season.
Obviously, the Slesarenko’s mark was a new meeting record, surpassing the 1.97 that had stood for eight years.
“I was very happy with tonight,” Slesarenko said. “I’m still in training and not at the top of my form yet,” she continued. “You saw that I had misses at both 1.92 and 1.98.”
The 25-year-old captured her fifth Russian indoor title with a 2.01 last Saturday (9) and immediately flew west for this competition. “I really am not tired after all of this,” she maintained. “The jumping floor here is really superb.”
Brno represents her final competition before the World Championships. “Now I’ll go home to Volgograd and train for Valencia.”
In actuality, Slesarenko broke the meeting record three times, being pushed along by her Russian compatriot Yelena Savchenko, as both set records with 1.98 to set up a confrontation at 2.00. Slesarenko cleared the height on her first attempt as Savchenko exited at this point in second place.
Finishing in third was Iva Straková of the Czech Republic at 1.92. The 27-year-old passed 1.95 to have three strong attempts at a PB 1.98, none successful.
The men and women jumped simultaneously in a compact, spectator-friendly format made possible by using two pits at either end of the Vodova ulice Sport Hall in the Královo Pole section of Brno.
Neito, the men’s victor
The men’s competition was won by American Jamie Nieto, who suddenly found himself as the only jumper to clear 2.27. Nieto had to survive remaining attempts from Czech jumpers Jaroslav Bába and Tomás Janku, but he squeezed out a win when all jumps at 2.30 failed. Naturally, the affable Nieto obliged with his trademark backflip on the jumping floor as he departed the competition.
Athens bronze medallist Bába held second at 2.23, while Canadian Mark Boswell was third at the same height.
Andrey Tereshin, the current World Indoor silver medallist, who has already been named to the Russian team for Valencia, looked off-form tonight, finishing fourth with 2.19 after his splendid 2.36 on Sunday to finish second in the Russian Championships. Unlike Slesarenko, Tereshin had one less day to recover, and his jumps lacked their usual power.
Janku, meanwhile, was jumping for the first time this season, a left hamstring condition delaying his start for about a month. The European silver medallist finished seventh at 2.19, but he passed 2.23 and 2.27 to save what remaining strength he had for three unsuccessful attempts at 2.30.
Next stop Prague
The Czech Republic seems never to tire of international indoor High Jump competitions, with the Brno meeting marking the fourth event out of at least seven planned for this winter in that country.
Next up will be a men’s competition to be held in the Metropole Shopping Centre in Prague on Thursday.
The end of tonight’s competition was marked by an eagerly-anticipated concert by the well-known rock band “No Name”.
Ed Gordon for the IAAF
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