THE most exciting and drawn out world record that I have seen was by the 19-year-old Soviet high jumper Vladimir Yashchenko at the 1978 European Indoor Championships in Milan. He had set an outdoor record of 2.33m the previous year and started this competition by failing his opening height of 2.10m. He also failed a number of other heights, but nevertheless first equalled his outdoor mark and then set a new world record of 2.35m with his 20th jump of the nearly four-and-a-half hour competition.
It was the highest jump ever made with the straddle style. Almost as tense was when flopper Patrick Sjoberg of Sweden went for the world mark outdoors at Stockholm in 1987. Having twice failed the height and taking only his sixth jump of the competition, after a nail-biting pause he cleared 2.42m.
In 1993 the superb Javier Sotomayor of Cuba raised the outdoor record to a remarkable 2.45m (8ft 01/2in) in Salamanca, taking only five jumps in the whole competition. It came 37 years after the first 7ft (2.13m) jump. I was extremely lucky to have seen Sotomayor set the indoor mark when winning the 1989 world indoor title in Budapest with 2.43m (7ft 111/2in).
Back in the days when Britain produced world-class female high jumpers, Sheila Lerwill, unusually then for women, using the straddle, broke the world record with 5ft 71/2in (1.72m) at the 1951 Women’s AAA Champs. That record was beaten in May 1956 with 1.74m (5ft 81/2in), also with a straddle, by Thelma Hopkins of Northern Ireland, who had won the 1954 European title in Berne, Switzerland.
At that meeting a group of enthusiasts had gone to the British Embassy and borrowed a flag – it was very long and heavy – which we took turns in waving. When Hopkins took the title it was my turn to wave it and it seems I had my photo taken by Pathe Newsreel, which appeared in cinemas all over Britain.
This story is from the November 28, 2019 edition of Athletics Weekly.
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This story is from the November 28, 2019 edition of Athletics Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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