European Athletics (EAA) – News – Women’s jump: Chicherova’s year of reckoning

High jump

Russia's Anna Chicherova bounced back from missing 2010 owing to being pregnant in the best possible way.

She cleared a world-leading 2.05m at the Russian championships and then won the world title in Daegu when she went over 2.03m with her first attempt to clinch victory from Croatia's 2010 European Athlete of the Year Blanka Vlašić, who was troubled by injuries for much of the year but made that heigh – a season's best and her 160th actual jump of two metres or higher – at her second attempt.

This was one of the top events for European performers, with the top five in Daegu all from Europe, including three Russians.

Chicherova, Vlašić and Italy's Antonietta Di Martino, who equalled her season's best of 2.00m in Daegu, were the only jumpers in the world to clear 2.00m or better this year.

Pole vault

Darya Klishina of Russia.

Russia's pole vault queen and world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva returned to competition after her sabbatical in 2010 and showed some signs of her old self when she went over 4.85m indoors, the best vault by a European this year, but outdoors her thunder was stolen by Germany's Martina Strutz.

At the World Championships, Strutz cleared a German record of 4.80m for the silver medal while Isinbayeva – who had cleared 4.76m to win at the Samsung Diamond league meeting in Stockholm the previous month – finished down in sixth with 4.65m.

In fact, Isinbayeva didn't even finish as the top Russian as the 2003 world champion and 2010 European Athletics Championships gold medallist Svetlana Feofanova took the bronze medal with 4.75m.

However, all of Europe's top vaulter will be looking over their shoulders next year for Sweden's prodigious 18-year-old Angelica Bengtsson, who set a world junior record of 4.63m indoors and went over a world junior outdoor best of 4.57m when winning at the European Athletics Junior Championships.

Long jump

The Russian pair of European Athletics U23 Championships gold medallist Darya Klishina and Olga Zaytseva topped the European list with 7.05m and 7.01m ahead of the World Championships, and 2011 finished that way, but the former injured her ankle warming up and could only finish seventh while the latter failed to even qualify for the final.

In their place, their team mate Olga Kucherenko stepped into the breach and jumped 6.77m twice to take the silver medal while Latvia's European champion Ineta Radevica uncorked an effort of 6.76m in the final round to take the bronze.

This was another event in which Russia has great depth with four of the best six European long jumpers in 2011, and this list doesn't even include Kucherenko, whose best of 6.86m only ranks her ninth.

Triple jump

Olha Saladuha of Ukraine.

Ukraine's Olha Saladuha opened with 14.94m at the World Championships which stood up as the winning distance.

It was just short of the European-leading mark of 14.98m she reached when winning at the Samsung Diamond League meeting in Eugene, United States.

Greece's 22-year-old Paraskeví Papahrístou ended the year as the second best European after she jumped 14.72m on home soil in Haniá in June and confirmed her talent by winning the European U23 title but minor injuries started to take their toll in August and she failed to make the final in Daegu.

Russia's Natalya Kutyakova was Europe's third best performer this year with the 14.67m she leapt at a Spanish meeting in Huelva in early June but injuries also caused her problems and her season finished in July after she could only place fifth at the Russian championships.

Notable stats:
2011 European top 30

High jump

New entries on the European all time list:

Tied for 3^rd place Anna Chicherova RUS

2011 head-to-head between best Europeans:

Anna Chicherova RUS – Blanka Vlašić CRO 4-2

Blanka Vlašić CRO – Antonietta Di Martino ITA 2-0

Anna Chicherova RUS – Antonietta Di Martino ITA 3-0

Career head-to-head between best Europeans:

Blanka Vlašić CRO – Anna Chicherova RUS 46-15

Blanka Vlašić CRO – Antonietta Di Martino ITA 29-6

Anna Chicherova RUS – Antonietta Di Martino ITA 15-8

Pole vault

New entries on the European all time list:

5^th place 4.80 Martina Strutz GER

Tied for 8^th place 4.75 Silke Spiegelburg GER

12^th place 4.71 Nikolía Kiriakopoúlou GRE

tied for 13^th place 4.70 Holly Bleasdale GBR

2011 head-to-head between best Europeans:

Yelena Isinbayeva RUS – Martina Strutz GER 2-1

Martina Strutz GER – Anna Rogowska POL 3-1

Silke Spiegelburg GER – Martina Strutz GER 5-3

Svetlana Feofanova RUS – Martina Strutz GER 4-1

Yelena Isinbayeva RUS – Anna Rogowska POL 4-0

Yelena Isinbayeva RUS – Silke Spiegelburg GER 2-1

Career head-to-head between best Europeans:

Yelena Isinbayeva RUS – Martina Strutz GER 10-1

Anna Rogowska POL – Martina Strutz GER 15-4

Silke Spiegelburg GER – Martina Strutz GER 31-11

Svetlana Feofanova RUS – Martina Strutz GER 11-1

Yelena Isinbayeva RUS – Anna Rogowska POL 4-0

Yelena Isinbayeva RUS – Silke Spiegelburg GER 30-2

Long jump

2011 head-to-head between best Europeans:

Darya Klishina RUS – Éloyse Lesueur FRA 4-0

Darya Klishina RUS – Veranika Shutkova BLR 4-0

Olga Zaytseva RUS – Anna Nazarova RUS 1-1

Ineta Radevica LAT – Naide Gomes POR 1-1

Career head-to-head between best Europeans:

Darya Klishina RUS – Éloyse Lesueur FRA 5-0

Darya Klishina RUS – Veranika Shutkova BLR 5-0

Olga Zaytseva RUS – Anna Nazarova RUS 1-1

Naide Gomes POR – Ineta Radevica LAT 12-4

Triple jump

New entries on the European all time list:

tied for 16^th place 14.98 Olha Saladuha UKR

27^th place 14.72 Paraskeví Papahrístou GRE

2011 head-to-head between best Europeans:

Olga Saladuha UKR – Paraskeví Papahrístou GRE 2-0

Olga Saladuha UKR – Natalya Kutyakova RUS 1-0

Olga Saladuha UKR – Katja Demut GER 4-1

Career head-to-head between best Europeans:

Olga Saladuha UKR – Paraskeví Papahrístou GRE 4-0

Olga Saladuha UKR – Natalya Kutyakova RUS 2-0

Olga Saladuha UKR – Katja Demut GER 12-2