Yesterday was the 16th Europa SC High Jump meet in Banska Bystrica, which ended with fine performances in both the men and women events. Look no further for the apparent heir to Stefan Holm as Swede Linus Thornblad was impressive in his indoor competition. He equaled the men’s world high jump lead of 2.36m by Russian Ivan Ukhov set 10 days ago. In fact two men equaled the feat. The other jumper was American Jesse Williams, but it was Thornblad who had lesser no-height attempts and won the event. The 23 year old Swede made first attempt clearance at all heights which was 2.32m, 2.34m and lastly progressing at 2.36m height, before unable to register the 2.38m attempt successfully. Third place went to Italian Nicola Ciotti who managed a 2.30m height. In the women’s category, world number one ranked women high jumper Croatian Blanka Vlasic won the event with a height of 2.00m. It was her 40th successive jump over 2.00m. Second place went to Spanish Ruth Beitia with a height of 1.98m while Frenchwoman Melanie Skotnik cleared 1.95m for third place.
|





