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Ivanyuk, Mahuchikh and Vukovic jump European leads in Banska Bystrica

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Ilya Ivanyuk, Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Marija Vukovic set European-leading marks at the 28th edition of the world-famous Banska Bystrica high jump meeting in Slovakia on Tuesday (15).

Russia’s Ivanyuk, competing as an Authorised Neutral Athlete, was in outstanding form at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting as he impressively cleared 2.31m on his third attempt in the men’s competition before having some good efforts at what would have been an indoor best of 2.35m.

Ivanyuk, who took bronze medals at the 2018 European Athletics Championships and 2019 World Athletics Championships, now has his sights set on adding to his collection at the World Indoor Athletics Championships next month in Belgrade, and all the big competitions during the summer. “Yes, all of them: the World Athletics Championships, European Athletics Championships and performing well in the Diamond League.”

Part of Ivanyuk's motivation is that he wants to prove himself again after starting last summer with a 2.37m personal best on home soil in Smolensk – which ended the year equal top of the 2021 world lists - and then producing four successive 2.30m-plus outings, including wins in the Doha and Firenze Diamond League meetings; but he struggled to maintain his momentum through to later in the summer and he had to settle for ninth place at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

In Banska Bystrica, it looked like Ivanyuk was approaching his best form again despite having to concede victory to Korea’s Sanghyeok Woo who cleared 2.35m.

Full results of the meeting can be seen here and a replay of the entire meeting is available on the European Athletics YouTube channel here.

Mahuchikh Yaroslava Bb Latka 2022 15 02 0354

Twelve months ago, in the same competition, Yaroslava Mahuchikh cleared a stunning meeting record of 2.06m to move up to equal-third on the world indoor all-time list.

This time around, the prodigious Ukrainian – who is still only 20 despite all her achievements and accolades – was flawless up to and including 1.96m but then had three failures at 1.99m and had to settle for second place behind Australia’s Eleanor Patterson, who cleared that height on her third attempt for an Oceania indoor area record and a winning debut competing under cover.

Mahuchikh’s attempts at 1.99m showed that she had lost none of her spring and elevation, but some technical aspects of her jumping are clearly still a work-in-progress at this early stage in the years and she offered up a rueful grin as she climbed the podium after the competition.

Offering something of a contrast, Montenegro’s Marija Vuckovic was thoroughly delighted in third place with the same height of 1.96m, a national indoor record and just one centimetre shy of her outdoor best.

Vuckovic made her final clearance on her second attempt which prompted her to let out shrieks of joy and start dancing on the high jump mat.

Reigning Olympic, world and European champion Mariya Lasitskene was also in action in Banska Bystrica, where she won in 2018 and 2019, but this time the Russian had a night to forget as she could only clear 1.93m – after needing three attempts to get over her opening height of 1.85m – and finished down in sixth place.

However, it should be mentioned that it was Lasitskene’s first competition of the year and, perhaps, a little bit of ‘ring rust’ could have been expected.




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