Ruth Beitia will bid this summer to become the first woman for 52 years to defend the high jump title at the European Athletics Championships.
Beitia is one of 17 athletes so far named by Spain for the Championships which start in Zurich on 12 August.
And she will be determined to bridge the long gap since Romania’s Iolanda Balas became the only woman to defend the European high jump crown when she won in Belgrade in 1962 having triumphed four years earlier in Stockholm.
The fact Beitia is here further confirms her decision not to retire which she thought about doing after the Olympic Games in London in 2012.
That was just weeks after her gold medal success in Helsinki when she won the European title with a jump of 1.97m.
She took a two-month break but came back to add more success to her record when she became the European indoor champion in Gothenburg the following March before sharing bronze with Russia’s Anna Chicherova at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow last summer.
This high jump is building towards a great event in Zurich.
Beitia is joint second on the World rankings with Poland’s Justyna Kasprzycka after their 1.99m from the Diamond League meeting in Eugene last Saturday when they finished behind Chicherova whose 2.01m is the best in 2014.
Beitia’s teammate Miguel Angel Lopez spearheads the 20km walkers announced for Zurich.
He is the bronze medallist from Moscow and his top time this year of 1:19:21 puts him third on the European Athletics rankings, just 44 seconds behind Ukraine’s Ruslan Dmytrenko.
Spain’s Zurich squad…so far
Men
10,000m
Alemayehu Bezabeh, Dolores Checa.
Marathon
Carles Castillejo, Javier Guerra, Ayad Lamdassem.
20km walk
Miguel Angel Lopez, Alvaro MartIn, Luis Alberto Amezcua.
50km walk
Jesus Angel Garcia Bragado, Francisco Arcilla.
Women
High jump
Ruth Beitia
Marathon
Alessandra Aguilar, Estela Navascues, Maria Azucena DÃaz.
20km walk
Beatriz Pascual, Raquel GonzAlez, MarIa Jose Poves.