European Athletics (EAA) – News – Vlašić looking to strike a high note in Rome

It’s still very early in the season but Croatia’s high jump queen and 2010 European Athlete of the Year Blanka Vlašić will be looking for the first two-metre jump outdoors this year at the Samsung Diamond League meeting in Rome on Thursday.

Bulgaria’s 2006 European Athletics Championships silver medallist Venelina Veneva-Mateeva has the best mark in the world outdoors so far with the 1.95m she cleared as a guest at the Turkish Clubs Championships in Izmir on Sunday.

Vlašić, now 27, won the Samsung Diamond Race Trophy winner in the event last year and opened this year’s Diamond League campaign with a victory in Shanghai on 15 May with a jump of 1.94m before bowing out at 1.97m.

“I am always excited to compete in Rome because it’s close to my home country and I have a good memory of this meeting. I hope it will be better than in Shanghai. I was too tired there because I arrived in Shanghai the day before the meeting, I had a long journey and I’d been training hard beforehand. I did not great expectations from Shanghai but I feel that my season will really start in Rome,” said the 27-year-old from Split optimistically.

She has won in Rome on four previous occasions: in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010 but still does not hold the stadium record.

Despite a personal best of 2.08m personal best – the popular Croatian is the second highest jumper in history – and equalling the meeting record of 2.03m 12 months ago, the Olympic Stadium record belongs to Bulgaria’s Stefka Kostadinova, who set her long-standing world record of 2.09m at the 1987 IAAF World Championships.

The women’s high jump in Rome this year features the silver medallist from the last two major European championships.

Sweden’s Emma Green finished second behind Vlašić at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona last summer while Spain’s Ruth Beitia stood on the second rung of the podium at the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships in March.

Also in the field is Russia’s former European junior and under 23 champion Svetlana Shkolina, cleared 2.00m indoors to rank second in the world this winter.

Sadly, the meeting will be missing local star and Italian record holder Antonietta Di Martino who beat Vlašić in Rome in 2009.

The 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships gold medallist was forced to drop out of the meeting on Monday because a slight problem with her take-off leg worsened last week.

“It would have been great for the meeting and the crowd to have Di Martino in the meeting. It would have been more motivating for me as well, for me to face a strong rival, but I am focused on myself,” added Vlašić

European Athletics (EAA) – News –