by Stuart WeirThe jumps in Athletissima were perfection on both the 4th and 5th of July. Both pole vaults, Long Jump, Triple jump, high jump captivated a segment of the audience and were superb television. Stuart Weir writes his fourth piece on Lausanne, and we are grateful for his observations on such an important and vibrant athletic meeting.
Christian Taylor, photo by PhotoRun.net
Leap of faith
The jumps were all of a high calibre at Athletissima.
‘400m man’ Christian Taylor reverted to triple jump at #LausanneDL to extend his position at the top of the 💎 standings
🇺🇸 @Taylored2jump 23pts
🇦🇿 Alexi Copello 16pts
🇵🇹 Pichardo 15pts#RoadToTheFinals #DiamondLeague pic.twitter.com/ebZDvtlVKp— IAAF Diamond League (@Diamond_League) July 5, 2018
Let’s start with the men’s triple jump. Christian Taylor won with 17.62 but only by 1 centimeter from Pedro Pablo Pichardo. In addition to his winning jump, Taylor was the more consistent with additional marks of 17.60, 17.55, 17.40 while Pichardo’s only other 17 meter jump was 17.24.
Taylor made some very interesting comments afterwards: “What to say about today? Well, I like to be positive: it is a victory, it means Diamond League points, and with this I am now in the Diamond League final. Of course I wanted to improve and even break the meeting record which I hold. But I am conscious I have done a lot of 400m work this year and obviously that impacts a bit the performance in triple jump. There is no global championships this year so it is the perfect year to do some different events. I cannot really compete with the guys in shorter events like 100m or even 200m, they are too fast. But I can stand against some competition on 400m, that is why I have turned to that event for this year. I also strongly believe it saves pressure as well on my body and therefore helps me to stay healthy. That is very important in the context of the upcoming three years leading to Tokyo Olympic Games. Diamond League meetings are my main objective of the year and will compete in Monaco next”.
It’s a great night for Malaika Mihambo as she wins the long jump in a 6.90m season’s best and goes top of the #RaceToTheFinals standings 💎
🇩🇪 Mihambo 15pts
🇷🇸 @IvanaSpaNOv1c 12pts
🇬🇧 @loralski 10pts #LausanneDL #DiamondLeague pic.twitter.com/9Ohnc45HYf— IAAF Diamond League (@Diamond_League) July 5, 2018
In the women’s long jump Malaika Mihambo (Germany) and Ivana Å panovic (Serbia) each jumped 6.90 – ironically Å panovic with her first jump and Mihambo with her last. Victory went to to Mihambo on countback. Mihambo said: “It was a very tough competition for me. I was conscious about not getting disqualified and then I had to give my all in the last attempt. I am happy it came together.
“This was a very strong field and I am feeling better as the season progresses. I want to take every opportunity to compete with these top athletes and prepare myself for Berlin [European Championships]. That is a huge target for me specially competing at home”.
There was also a bit of controversy with Å panovic saying afterwards “I am not fully satisfied with my performance today. Quite often, I was too far away from the board. Although, I also want to go and check the video because I believe that my second jump has not been measured properly”.
John Mulkeen got excited about the women’s pole vault. First he tweeted “Nine women over 4.52m in the pole vault in #LausanneDL. Just the second time that has happened outside of a global championships” He followed by noting “five women over 4.72m. That’s the first time that has happened in ANY competition (indoors, outdoors, champs, no champs)”. In the end it was seven women over 4.72m. The winner was Katerina Stefanidi (Greece) with 4.82 but with Jennifer Suhr (USA) and Anzhelika Sidorova (ANA) clearing the same height
Stefanidi was pleased to be back on winning ways: “All I can say is I am happy to be pole vaulting again. It started in Athens at the Street Pole Vault. But the stadium event is where you prove it to yourself and others that you are back. I suffered a bit with injuries at the start of the season. I am grateful to me team who really helped me recover well.
I am going to take one step at a time, I am competing in Monaco next. Thereafter prepare for Berlin. Sidorova is a major challenger in Berlin and I am looking forward to competing in the historic Olympic stadium”.
Danil Lysenko (ANA) won the high jump with 2.37. He commented afterwards: “I had a few minor blisters on my feet and I was very cautious during the competition. I am content with 2.37 here. It is always great to come to Lausanne, bautiful city, great supporting crowd. They push you to do your best. I will be very happy if I could improve the Russian record of 2.41.I do not want to think too much or too far ahead. European are a major goal, I am taking nothing for granted. I will be happy with a medal there”. Interesting issue: can an ANA athlete set an official Russian record?
