EN
The second last discipline in our ‘2007 in review' series is the women's Jumps. One of the most thriving areas of women's athletics in Europe, some of the Jump events boast well established stars performing in a league of their own, but 2007 also saw the emergence of fresh
2007 in review: Women’s Jumps
The second last discipline in our ‘2007 in review' series is the women's Jumps. One of the most thriving areas of women's athletics in Europe, some of the Jump events boast well established stars performing in a league of their own, but 2007 also saw the emergence of fresh young talent with as much personality as they have potential…
High Jump
Standing at an impressive 1.92m tall, it would have been hard not to notice the 24-year-old Croatian who jumped into the attention of statisticians across the world this year with her tantalizingly close attempts to smash the 21-year-old High Jump record held by Bulgaria's, Stefka Kostadinova.
European Athlete of the Year Blanka Vlasic is considered something of a late bloomer, having won the 2000 World Junior Championships at only 16 years of age and then retained the title two years later, great things were predicted of the young, but incredibly tall Croatian. Yet it was not until the 2007 outdoor season that Vlasic really found her senior spring, loosing only one competition, the highly entertaining Croatian's win streak stopped at 15 competitions, including the World Championships in Osaka, and each win was celebrated with a different victory dance.
She set a 2.04m Croatian record in Doha in May and although the next competitions were not spectacular, including one loss in Oslo in June, the Paris Golden League meeting at the start of July marked the start of her incredible rise to success with a 2.02m win. Vlasic went on to win 18 of her 19 competitions during the season, and handled the pressure in Osaka to take her first Major Outdoor Championship medal, winning with a 2.05m result in the face of a strong challenge from Anna Chicherova (RUS) and Antonietta Di Martino (ITA) who were tied for the silver medal at 2.03m.
Although she faced fierce challenge in the Osaka final, Vlasic was the favourite to win before the Championships, and she went on to make several attempts at the 2.10m World record height in several meets. Vlasic set four Croatian records during the season, and her 2.07m clearance in Stockholm places her joint second on the world all-time list with Lyudmila Andonova (BUL).
Pole Vault
In the Pole Vault, the awesome Russian World record holder, Yelena Isinbayeva, maintained her iron grip on the top position in World Pole Vaulting. Another entertaining performer, Isinbayeva's mystical magic words to her pole before every jump, again ensured her another perfect season.
The 25-year-old's only disappointment during the season was failing to break the World Outdoor record for the 12th time; however she did manage to break the World Indoor record with a 4.93m clearance in February in Donetsk, Ukraine, bringing her to a nice round total of 20 World records (11 outdoors, 9 indoors) during her illustrious career.
The Russian won all of her 18 competitions during the season and successfully defended her 2005 World title in Osaka. Isinbayeva now has 52 career competitions at 4.70m or better and holds the competition record for all Major Championships, Indoors and Outdoors (Olympics, World Indoor/Outdoor Championships, European Indoor/Outdoor Championships).
Although not on a par with Isinbayeva, there were a number of other encouraging European results in the women's Pole Vault. Monika Pyrek (POL) vaulted a personal best 4.82m at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart and former World record holder Svetlana Feofanova (RUS), who was third in Osaka, also cleared 4.82m in Stuttgart for her best result for more than three years. Katerina Badurova (CZE) was the surprise silver medallist in Osaka setting a 4.75m national record to mark her first Major Championships medal.
Long Jump
Olympic Long Jump Champion, Tatyana Lebedeva (RUS) continued as the leading European in both Long Jump and Triple Jump. The 31-year-old won the Long Jump at the World Championships, but failed to make it double World gold's after suffering a narrow loss in Triple Jump.
28-year-old European Champion Lyudmila Kolchanova (RUS) had a perfect start to the 2007 outdoors season with a huge World-leading personal best of 7.21m in May. But for some reason she only competed in a handful of finals during the season and that might have affected her performance in Osaka where Lebedeva won comfortably with a 7.03m jump against Kolchanova's 6.92m silver medal performance.
Tatyana Kotova filled the third part of an all Russian Long Jump sweep, just 2cm behind Kolchanova (6.90m). Kolchanova finished her season in Osaka and Lebedeva went on to win the World Athletics Final and was clearly the number one Long Jumper in 2007.
Triple Jump
In addition to this Long Jump success, Lebedeva performed at a top level in her favourite event, the Triple Jump. The versatile Russian won all of her four competitions prior to Osaka, but was beaten there by Cuban Yargelis Savigne. Lebedeva, the 2006 European Champion, finished in second place getting her third World Championships medal in addition to two titles in 2001 and 2003.
Greek jumping sensation, Hrisopiyi Devetzi, also had a successful Triple Jump season in 2007. The Olympic Silver medalist who jumped an impressive 15.32m Greek record to qualify for Athens, again timed her form nicely and got a first World Championships medal in Osaka. Devetzi has performed progressively well, jumping season's bests in big competitions for four years in a row: 2004 Olympics (15.32), 2005 World Athletics Final (14.89), 2006 European Championships (15.05) and 2007 World Championships (15.09) and has also finished in top three in each of these competitions.
Source/Courtesy
European Athletics (EAA)
https://www.european-athletics.org/
EAA
Notable Statistics:
| High jump New entries for the European alltime list |
| 3rd (2=) 2.07 Blanka Vlasic CRO |
| 14th (10=) 2.03 Antonietta Di Martino ITA |
| 15th (10=) 2.03 Anna Chicherova RUS |
2007 head to head stats between best Europeans
| Competitors |
Scores |
| Blanka Vlasic CRO – Antonietta Di Martino ITA | 7-2 |
| Blanka Vlasic CRO – Anna Chicherova RUS | 11-1 |
| Blanka Vlasic CRO – Kajsa Bergqvist SWE |
9-3 |
| Blanka Vlasic CRO – Yelena Slesarenko RUS |
9-1 |
| Blanka Vlasic CRO – Ruth Beitia ESP |
12-1 |
| Antonietta Di Martino ITA – Anna Chicherova RUS |
3-1 |
| Kajsa Bergqvist SWE – Antonietta Di Martino ITA | 4-2 |
| Yelena Slesarenko RUS – Antonietta Di Martino ITA | 3-2 |
| Antonietta Di Martino ITA – Ruth Beitia ESP |
3-2 |
| Anna Chicherova RUS – Kajsa Bergqvist SWE |
3-1 |
| Ruth Beitia ESP – Anna Chicherova RUS |
5-2 |
Career head to head stats between best Europeans
| Competitors |
Scores |
| Blanka Vlasic CRO – Antonietta Di Martino ITA |
13-5 |
| Blanka Vlasic CRO – Anna Chicherova RUS |
27-11 |
| Kajsa Bergqvist SWE – Blanka Vlasic CRO |
41-15 |
| Blanka Vlasic CRO – Yelena Slesarenko RUS | 23-13 |
| Blanka Vlasic CRO – Ruth Beitia ESP |
26-4 |
| Antonietta Di Martino ITA – Anna Chicherova RUS |
6-5 |
| Kajsa Bergqvist SWE – Antonietta Di Martino ITA | 12-2 |
| Yelena Slesarenko RUS – Antoanetta Di Martino ITA | 7-2 |
| Ruth Beitia ESP – Antonietta Di Martino ITA |
7-4 |
| Kajsa Bergqvist SWE – Anna Chicherova RUS | 26-5 |
| Anna Chicherova RUS – Yelena Slesarenko RUS |
21-21 |
| Anna Chicherova RUS – Ruth Beitia ESP |
13-9 |
| Win Streak |
| 15 competitions Blanka Vlasic CRO |
| Pole vault New entries for the European alltime list |
| 4th 4.82 Monika Pyrek POL |
| 7th 4.75 Katerina Badurova CZE |
| 10th 4.70 Yuliya Golubchikova RUS |
| 12th 4.65 Anastasiya Shvedova RUS |
2007 head to head stats between best Europeans
| Competitors |
Scores |
| Yelena Isinbayeva RUS – Monika Pyrek POL | 11-0 |
| Yelena Isinbayeva RUS – Svetlana Feofanova RUS | 13-0 |
| Yelena Isinbayeva RUS – Katerina Badurova CZE |
10-0 |
| Yelena Isinbayeva RUS – Tatyana Polnova RUS |
13-0 |
| Yelena Isinbayeva RUS – Yuliya Golubchikova RUS |
13-0 |
| Monika Pyrek POL – Svetlana Feofanova RUS |
4-4 |
| Monika Pyrek POL – Katerina Badurova CZE |
6-3 |
| Monika Pyrek POL – Tatyana Polnova RUS |
6-2 |
| Monika Pyrek POL – Yuliya Golubchikova RUS |
8-1 |
| Svetlana Feofanova RUS – Katerina Badurova CZE |
9-2 |
| Svetlana Feofanova RUS – Tatyana Polnova RUS |
10-2 |
| Svetlana Feofanova RUS – Yuliya Golubchikova RUS |
14-2 |
| Katerina Badurova CZE – Tatyana Polnova RUS |
7-4 |
| Katerina Badurova CZE – Yuliya Golubchikova RUS |
7-5 |
Career head to head stats between best Europeans
| Competitors |
Scores |
| Yelena Isinbayeva RUS – Monika Pyrek POL |
52-10 |
| Yelena Isinbayeva RUS – Svetlana Feofanova RUS |
40-29 |
| Yelena Isinbayeva RUS – Katerina Badurova CZE |
17-0 |
| Yelena Isinbayeva RUS – Tatyana Polnova RUS |
42-2 |
| Yelena Isinbayeva RUS – Yuliya Golubchikova RUS | 19-0 |
| Svetlana Feofanova RUS – Monika Pyrek POL | 46-11 |
| Monika Pyrek POL – Katerina Badurova CZE | 15-3 |
| Monika Pyrek POL – Tatyana Polnova RUS | 31-11 |
| Monika Pyrek POL – Yuliya Golubchikova RUS | 12-1 |
| Svetlana Feofanova RUS – Katerina Badurova CZE |
17-2 |
| Svetlana Feofanova RUS – Tatyana Polnova RUS | 26-9 |
| Svetlana Feofanova RUS – Yuliya Golubchikova RUS | 24-2 |
| Katerina Badurova CZE – Tatyana Polnova RUS | 7-7 |
| Katerina Badurova CZE – Yuliya Golubchikova RUS | 10-5 |
| Long Jump New entries for the European alltime list |
| 12th 7.21 Lyudmila Kolchanova RUS |
2007 head to head stats between best Europeans
| Competitors | Scores |
| Tatyana Lebedeva RUS – Lyudmila Kolchanova RUS | 2-0 |
| Lyudmila Kolchanova RUS – Irina Simagina RUS |
3-1 |
| Lyudmila Kolchanova RUS – Naide Gomes POR | 1-1 |
| Tatyana Lebedeva RUS – Irina Simagina RUS | 2-0 |
| Tatyana Lebedeva RUS – Naide Gomes POR |
2-0 |
Career head to head stats between best Europeans
| Competitors |
Scores |
| Tatyana Lebedeva RUS – Lyudmila Kolchanova RUS |
4-1 |
| Irina Simagina RUS – Lyudmila Kolchanova RUS |
8-3 |
| Lyudmila Kolchanova RUS – Naide Gomes POR |
4-2 |
| Tatyana Lebedeva RUS – Irina Simagina RUS | 8-2 |
| Tatyana Lebedeva RUS – Naide Gomes POR |
3-0 |
| Tatyana Lebedeva RUS – Tatyana Kotova RUS |
13-3 |
| Win Streak |
| 7 competitions Tatyana Lebedeva RUS |
| Triple Jump New entries for the European alltime list |
| 17th 14.92 Marija Sestak SLO |
| 20th 14.79 Olha Saladuha UKR |
2007 head to head stats between best Europeans
| Competitors | Scores |
| Tatyana Lebedeva RUS – Hrisopiyi Devetzi GRE | 2-1 |
| Tatyana Lebedeva RUS – Marija Sestak SLO | 5-0 |
| Tatyana Lebedeva RUS – Anna Pyatykh RUS | 4-0 |
| Tatyana Lebedeva RUS – Olha Saladuha UKR | 3-0 |
| Hrisopiyi Devetzi GRE – Marija Sestak SLO | 3-0 |
| Hrisopiyi Devetzi GRE – Anna Pyatykh RUS | 2-0 |
| Hrisopiyi Devetzi GRE – Olha Saladuha UKR | 2-0 |
Career head to head stats between best Europeans
| Competitors | Scores |
| Tatyana Lebedeva RUS – Hrisopiyi Devetzi GRE | 20-5 |
| Tatyana Lebedeva RUS – Marija Sestak SLO | 9-1 |
| Tatyana Lebedeva RUS – Anna Pyatykh RUS | 35-5 |
| Tatyana Lebedeva RUS – Olha Saladuha UKR | 10-0 |
| Hrisopiyi Devetzi GRE – Marija Sestak SLO | 5-5 |
| Hrisopiyi Devetzi GRE – Anna Pyatykh RUS | 12-12 |
| Hrisopiyi Devetzi GRE – Olha Saladuha UKR | 8-0 |
| Hrisopiyi Devetzi GRE – Magdelin Martinez ITA | 11-7 |
