After capturing a pair of world indoor championship titles earlier in the decade, Kajsa Bergqvist (SWE) finally moved to the top step of an outdoor global award podium with a world-leading 2.02 performance as she won the World Championships crown in the women’s high jump.
It was a stunning performance tonight for the 28-year-old Swede, whose future career was in doubt only a year ago after a severe Achilles injury which left her unable to jump for six months.
After her victory was assured, Bergqvist asked for a would-be world-record 2.10, and at least one of her three unsuccessful attempts at that landmark height was very respectable.
Pushing Bergqvist to the end and finishing with the silver medal was Chaunte Howard (USA) at 2.00, the third time in the past three weeks she has jumped this career best. Only a 1.89 performer two years ago, the 21-year-old has seen her career take off noticeably under the tutelage of former international high jumper and hurdler Nat Page.
Also making a significant upward move in tonight’s “youth movement” was another Swede, 20-year-old Emma Green, whose PB 1.96 left her with the bronze medal on a countback against reigning European indoor champion Anna Chicherova (RUS) at the same height.
Sharing the credit for much of tonight’s Swedish high jump success was Yannick Tregaro, the coach of both Bergqvist and Green. Also the mentor of Olympic triple jump champion Christian Olsson, Tregaro has been able to shift much of his focus back to his own original event this season while awaiting Olsson’s recovery from an ankle injury.
Bergqvist, with her injuries of last year seemingly in the past, was once again under the media magnifying glass. Always a part of the mix at global championships, she had won a share of the bronze in Sydney and had added further bronzes at the last two World Championships, plus a win at the 2002 European Championships. Only an outdoor gold was missing from her cabinet, a deficiency she corrected here tonight.
“I felt this was my chance to get the gold medal at the World Championships, and I did,” said the ebullient Swede before a phalanx of journalists. “Howard was jumping very well, so I knew that I also had to clear every height on my first attempt.”
As a relative neophyte at the international level, Howard was understandably grateful for what she achieved tonight. “It couldn’t have gone any better today,” she said. “The gold would have been nice, but I am only 21 years old, and I have plenty of time to improve.”
For bronze medallist Green, a similar feeling of overachievement was evident. “Before the final, I never thought I could get a bronze medal,” she admitted, adding that “I’ve had these heights in my body for a while, but I haven’t been able to jump them in a competition.”
Bergqvist started at 1.85 and achieved her goal of a clean jumping record up through 1.98. But she still had Howard to deal with at the end, as the American leaped 1.98 on her second attempt.
The Swede’s first miss of the night came on her initial try at 2.00, but her second jump had many centimetres of space. Howard again applied pressure with a third-round 2.00 to send the bar up to 2.02, a height no one had jumped yet this season.
By now, the adrenalin was pumping through the Swede, who was jumping ahead of the American in the order. A splendid first-attempt clearance at 2.02 by Bergqvist left Howard with a challenge she could not meet, and the medal assignment was finally complete.
The heavy rains from earlier in the day suddenly stopped shortly before the competiton began, but the weather system left some strong, gusty winds. For the most part, it appeared that they were acting as tailwinds for the jumpers.
In spite of the uninviting conditions, the twelve jumpers grasped the importance of the evening and proceeded through the opening two heights (1.80 and 1.85) without any casualties.
Even at 1.89, only three made an exit, one of them Irina Mikhalchenko, the fifth placer in Athens.
