Mikhail Akimenko at the IAAF World Junior Championships, Oregon 2014 (© Getty Images)
Mikhail Akimenko of Russia won the men’s high jump with a 2.24m clearance after an intense competition which saw the top four jumpers all have personal best clearances.
Somewhat surprisingly – given Russia’s depth in the event – Akimenko became the first man from his country to win the world junior high jump title.
Akimenko was joined by Belarusian Dzimitry Nabokau, Korea’s Woo Sanghyeok and Jamaica’s Christoff Bryan in clearing 2.24m - another three men failed at this height - all four attempted 2.26m without success.
Before that, Akimenko got to 2.24m with only one miss. Nabokau took three efforts to clear 2.22m and Woo three to clear 2.24m, so they took silver and bronze respectively. Bryan had more misses than Woo, leaving him out of the medals.
Woo will add the junior bronze to his world youth gold from Donetsk.
Coincidently, this is the second consecutive edition of the Championships that all three medallists cleared 2.24m and the medals were decided by the count back rules.
Pre-competition favourite Andrei Skabeika of Belarus, who still leads the annual list with a 2.26m clearance, exited here at 2.14m after only scaling 2.10m. Barcelona 2012 silver medallist Falk Wendrich was fifth with 2.22m.
Parker Morse for the IAAF
