Holm Jumps 2,37m at Swedish Indoors

Story written by Eric

Sweden's Stefan Holm, the reigning Olympic high jump champion, won his 11th national indoor title on Sunday in Malmö by jumping 2.37m. The mark ties him with Russian André Silnov for this year’s second best in the world. This is the 21st national high jump title of Holm’s illustrious career.

Linus Thörnblad played second-fiddle to Holm but appeared to find his form, heading into the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Valencia in two weeks. He finished second with a best of 2.35m.

Thörnblad was coming off Thursday’s subpar performance at GE Galan, where he managed only a fifth place finish with a jump of 2.26m—12cm below his personal best.

After 13 years in the spotlight, Holm is bidding farewell to the sport at age 31. His career includes 10 consecutive outdoor and eight consecutive indoor seasons, in which he has jumped no less than 2.30m. Holm is now enjoying perhaps his best season ever, winning his fourth straight competition—the sixth in seven attempts.

Holm's lowest jump this season occurred in Dresden, Germany where he jumped 2.30m - a mark which netted him a victory.

He has now cleared 2.30m 120 times in his career— increasing by one the Swedish record he set on Thursday in Stockholm. Former world record holder Patrik Sjöberg, the current Swedish indoor and outdoor national record holder, had previously achieved this record (118).

The Holm-Thörnblad rivalry netted the duo a one-two finish at last year's European Indoor Championships and brought a much-anticipated clash to the sell-out crowd huddled in the Malmö Athleticum facility. This matchup followed the previous year's national championships in Göteborg in which both athletes cleared world-leading 2.38m, with Holm the victor on countback.

This year's event had all the markings of a championship meet. Both athletes brimmed with confidence, neither showing signs of acquiescing under pressure.

Holm had a fantastic series, with first-attempt clearances at all of his heights from 2.17m to 2.35m—or seven straight jumps. Holm's last competition of a similar nature—where he had been foul-free through 2.35m—was at the 2004 World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary. He won with 2.35m.

Holm's first failure of the evening came when he attempted to maneuver a height 2.37m above the ground—a height he had cleared just four other times in his career.

According to his website scholm.com, he hit the bar a little too hard with his hamstring, though the first attempt itself was not a bad one technically. Holm’s first miss of the competition, however, gave Thörnblad his first opportunity to take the lead.

Thörnblad had a very close first attempt at 2.37m, but was unable to snatch the lead from Holm. On his second attempt, Holm hit the bar but watched it remain on the uprights for a clearance.

Sensing that Holm was on his way to a superb day, Thörnblad fouled his second of three attempts. He settled for saving his last attempt for 2.39m. This mark, incidentally, would have bettered Russian Yaroslav Rybakov's world lead by one centimeter.

Holm stated that he wasn't particularly interested in making attempts at 2.39m. Still, he was forced to make an effort there as Thörnblad—who missed his one reserve try there—could have taken the lead. This would have forced Holm either to clear this height or take attempts at his personal best of 2.40m.

Holm, jumping first, had his poorest jump of the day with his first attempt. He became a lock for the gold medal, however, when Thörnblad missed his try.

The Kils AIK star out of Karlstad had the bar raised to 2.41m—a height he has never before cleared.

The three-time world indoor gold medalist (2001, 2003, 2004) was unable to manage a successful navigation at this level, though he had the height up to the bar on both attempts.

Holm called this one of his better competition days. He hopes the feeling he had in Malmö carries over to Weinheim on Wednesday, and against his Russian rivals in Valencia the following week.

Holm, speaking to tabloid newspaper Expressen, stated that the field in Valencia would be tough.

"Very many have the capacity to jump 2.35m," he said. "There are many who can either disappear in the qualification round, or just as well go to the final."

"Someone is going to jump 2.40m," he prognosticated.

Thörnblad has now cleared 2.30m in five of his seven competitions this season, and moved to sole possession of fifth in the world. He also had two victories and three runner-up indoor finishes this year.

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Swedish National Indoor Championships
Malmö, Sunday 2008-February-24
Men's High Jump Results:

M Höjdhopp Final söndag

Plac	Namn	Född	Förening/Land	Resultat
1	Stefan Holm	76	Kils AIK	2,37
2	Linus Thörnblad	85	Malmö AI	2,35
3	Mehdi Alkhatib	87	SoIK Hellas	2,15
4	Christian Norstedt	83	Råby-Rekarne FI	2,11
5	Martin Eriksson	83	Örgryte IS	2,09
6	Richard Huldén	86	IF Göta	2,01
7	Daniel Lennartsson	88	IFK Växjö	1,97
7	Oskar Rybo	89	IF Kville	1,97
9	Markus Nilsson	89	Malmö AI	1,97
9	Christoffer Holmström	88	FI Kalmarsund	1,97
11	Mattias Green	88	IFK Trelleborg	1,97
12	Joel Thorén	87	Hässelby SK	1,97

Full results here

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World's top-10 indoor high jumpers 2008:

2,38m Yaroslav Rybakov RUS

2,37m Andrey Silnov RUS

2,37m Stefan Holm SWE

2,36m Ivan Ukhov RUS

2,36m Andrey Tereshin RUS

2,35m Linus Thörnblad SWE

2,33m Aleksey Dmitrik RUS

2,32m Jesse Williams USA

2,32m Kyriakos Ioannou CYP

2,30m Eike Onnen GER

Swedish Indoor Champs: 1,98m Victory For Green

Story written by Eric

Sweden's Emma Green won her first national high jump title on Saturday in Malmö, jumping 1,98m for the sixth-best mark in the world this season.

Green improved her personal best indoors by two centimetres, and jumped one centimetre higher than her lifetime best of 1,97m set at the 2005 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, where she took home the bronze medal.

Green spoke with Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet following her victory, stating that she had been stable at just about the 1,90m - and a bit higher, so her winning mark on Saturday was finally worth the wait.

"I've now taken a step toward higher heights," she said.

Green had a great third-attempt at 2,00m, and, with a few minor adjustments and another day such as this where she was beaming with confidence, Green may break through that dream barrier.

Green's competition had bowed out by the time Green entered the competition at 1,83m - a height Green cleared on her first attempt. She continued first-attempt clearances through to her season's best height of 1,95m.

Green's first attempt at her new personal best was marginally good, but she found the bar on her second and cleared her lifetime best. She then had the bar raised to 2,00m, where she missed on her three attempts - including running under the bar on the first.

"This is the second time I've jumped at this height. It definitely felt that it is there and possible that I can clear it. Two metres is a dream barrier that one wants to clear - a big goal. It is perhaps a mental block, but also an inspirational goal."

Croat Blanka Vlasic, who has 20-meet win-streak and has cleared 2,00m 27 times in her career, has the highest mark in the world this season at 2,04m.

Vlasic has jumped injured the past two meets, however, and her participation in next month's IAAF World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain, is not a clear certainty.

Green's exposure to the magical barrier puts behind her a tumultuous past two seasons in which the 23-year-old, who is trained by her live-in boyfriend Yannick Tregaro, went from an immediate star to an athlete who appeared to have lost her confidence against the best in the world.

Green placed a surprising third in the world outdoor championships three years ago, knocking Russia's Anna Chicherova, who'd won the European Indoor title earlier that spring, into fourth.

Green was spared the limelight when Kajsa Bergqvist, returning from a nasty achilles injury, not only won the competition at 2,02m, but made three attempts at bettering Bulgarian Stefka Kostadinova's world outdoor record of 2,09m in the process.

Green was thrust partly into the spotlight, but needed time to mature both on and off the field - something she readily admits has been able to accomplish over the past two seasons.

"I feel as though I have matured as a high jumper and as a person. I have been more secure with everything around me which has nothing to do with the athletics field. I can now handle situations much better without them taking energy."

Green hopes to save her energy as she heads to Valencia in two weeks' time.

"My goal is to jump as high as possible," she said.

"Then we'll need to see how far it goes. It will take heights in excess of two metres to take a medal - absolutely. But everyone who is there has a chance, and I feel as though I haven't gotten out what I have inside of myself."

"She has the physical capability to go higher than this," Tregaro stated to Göteborgs-Posten.

JOHAN WISSMAN SET BACK BY FEVER

Johan Wissman, who on Thursday ran to a superb 400m victory at the GE Galan in Globen here in Stockholm, was grounded at his home base on Saturday and forced to withdraw from the national championships final due to a high pulse and feverish conditions according to national athletics doctor Sverker Nilsson.

Wissman, who is a strong medal favourite in Valencia, was attempting to use this weekend's meet as a strong workout and make an appearance before his fans in Malmö - only an arm's length (65km/6,5 Swedish miles) of driving from his base in Helsingborg.

He ran the fastest time (48,10) of the three 400m semi-final winners, but began to feel symptoms of sickness when he finished the race and took a rest in an office away from the field.

Wissman was entered in both the 200m and 400m - two races which would have pressed his energy reserves without sickness this weekend, as he would have only had 40 minutes of rest between events.

No athlete has ever won the 200m/400m double at the Swedish Indoor Championships.

Wissman will instead rest and attempt to recover from a series of travel and competition meetings which have taxed his sleeping patterns among other things.

"We had thought that the Swedish Indoors would be a good training weekend," said Wissman's trainer, Kenth Olsson.

Wissman was the third of our major Swedish stars to suffer either injury or cold and be unable to compete this weekend.

Sanna Kallur, who set the world indoor-record in the 60m hurdles two weeks ago in Germany, elected to pull out of the championships due to feeling tired and a bit sore in her hamstrings, and Carolina Klüft, who has been battling a disc injury in her back, was knocked out of the rest of her indoor season when she suffered an injur during warm-ups at the GE Galan on Thursday.

ALHAJI JENG IMPRESSES IN VAULT

Pole vaulter Alhaji Jeng won his first competition of the season on Saturday by clearing 5,71m. Jesper Fritz finished second by clearing 5,55m.

Jeng nearly added to his own Swedish national record of 5,80m set two years ago in Donetsk - site of Yelena Isinbayeva's world record of 4,95m last week - by making a very good third attempt at 5,81m.

Though unsuccessful, the 26-year-old showed he has the capacity to clear the 5,80m barrier again, and is showing fine form as he attempts to capture gold in Valencia following the silver medal he won at the 2006 World Indoor Championships in Moscow.

Jeng was hampered by being forced to wait it out when some of his competitors entered the competition more than a metre beneath his opening height.

CHRISTIAN OLSSON RE-INJURED

Reigning Olympic champion Christian Olsson suffered another blow to his attempt at fully recovering from his injuries, discovering on 26-January that he had a hemorrhage in the scare left after an operation he had on his hamstring in October 2007.

"It is a smaller hemorrhage," he's quoted as stating in Aftonbladet.

"With rehabilitation and massage, it shouldn't be any problem. It was a little setback, but since I'm not competing indoors, I hope that the plans still work out. I'm counting on doing my first outdoor competition at the end of May or the beginning of June."

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Swedish Indoor Championships
Malmö, 2008-February-23
Full Results here

Select Results:

K Höjdhopp Final lördag

Plac	Namn	Född	Förening/Land	Resultat
1	Emma Green	84	Örgryte IS	1,98
2	Frida Brolin	85	Råby-Rekarne FI	1,83
3	Jenny Isgren	81	Spårvägens FK	1,83
4	Angelica Johansson	83	Örgryte IS	1,80
5	Victoria Dronsfield	91	IF Göta	1,77
5	Anna Alexson	87	Spårvägens FK	1,77
7	Sofia Kask	89	IFK Lund	1,74
8	Helena Redborg	83	Turebergs FK	1,74
9	Sandra Asplund	85	IFK Umeå	1,74
10	Ellinore Hallin	87	IFK Växjö	1,70
10	Emma Ekdahl	89	IFK Lund	1,70
12	Sandra Liljegren	91	Vittsjö GIK	1,65
13	Karin Rydh	85	Malmö AI	1,65

M Stavhopp Final lördag

Plac	Namn	Född	Förening/Land	Resultat
1	Alhaji Jeng	81	Örgryte IS	5,70
2	Jesper Fritz	85	Malmö AI	5,55
3	Gustaf Hultgren	83	Örgryte IS	5,23
4	Fredrik Skoglund	81	Spårvägens FK	5,07
5	Joakim Norman	84	Mölndals AIK	4,95
6	Pawel Szczyrba	81	KA 2 IF	4,95
7	Deniz Mahshid	80	Örgryte IS	4,83
8	Alexander Eriksson	79	Spårvägens FK	4,65
8	Rasmus Tjärndal	85	Ullevi FK	4,65
8	Marcus Lindh	76	KA 2 IF	4,65
11	Erik Thorstensson	89	Spårvägens FK	4,65
12	Sebastian Axell	91	IK Lerum FI	4,47
13	Rasmus Olofsson	84	Hässelby SK	4,47
14	Jonathan Eklund	88	Hammarby IF	4,47

Foto credit: Emil Malmborg