IAAF – 2013 end-of-year reviews – jumps

Statisticians A Lennart Julin and Mirko Jalava look back on the best jumps performances of the year with Julin covering the men’s events and Jalava the women’s.

Men’s high jump

Usually post-Olympic years are calm, but thanks to four jumpers – Bohdan Bondarenko, Mutaz Essa Barshim, Derek Drouin and Erik Kynard – this was certainly not the case for the men’s high jump in 2013 as they made jumping at the 2.40m region a far-from-futile pursuit.

Bondarenko even made 2.40m-plus jumps look ‘probable’ rather than just ‘possible’ in a way the world hasn’t witnessed since the heydays of Javier Sotomayor some 20-25 years ago.

A former super talent beset for years by injuries, Bondarenko finally got the chance to fulfil that early promise. His 2.33m for the win at the IAAF Diamond League opener in Doha was just the beginning.