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.

=====================================================

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

=====================================================

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

2008 GE Galan Preview

Story written by Eric

The Swedish capital of Stockholm is preparing to add to the wave of incredible momentum created this indoor season when it hosts the GE Galan tomorrow evening, with all 13.000 tickets to the two-hour event sold out in anticipation of watching one of its own national stars, Sanna Kallur, continue her own wave of excellence as she laces up for the second time this winter for a race in her home country.

Kallur, the newly-minted world record-holder at 60m hurdles and defending IAAF World Indoor champion at the distance, is unbeaten in five competitions this this indoor season, running seven of the eight fastest times recorded, as well as two of the top-10 all-time. Teammate Carolina Klüft is also entered in the 60m hurdles as well as the long jump.

Kallur's is one of five world indoor records set during the past three weeks of competition, and GE Galan organisers, who have witnessed several world indoor records set on their track - including the current men's 5.000m standard, have assembled a stellar line-up of action featuring reigning Olympic and IAAF World champions set to compete the 12 disciplines on tap for the evening.

They've also purchased a new, quicker track surface - the same kind which is being used at next month's world championships, and also at the Olympics later this summer in Beijing.

Fast 3.000m Promised

American Bernard Lagat, who won an unprecedented 1.500m/5.000m double at last season's world outdoor championships in Osaka, is entered in the men's 3.000m run - a race which also features the reigning world steeplechase champion, Paul Koech from Kenya.

Lagat and Koech both competed at the weekend in Birmingham, with Lagat winning the 1.500m in the second-fasest time of the season. Koech ran an incredibly strong 2-mile race to place second behind Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele, with both men setting new national records - and Bekele breaking the world record.

Lagat, the highest-ranked returning Olympic 1.500m finalist, spoke at the GE Galan press conference yesterday, and stated that his training is going exceptionally well, and he even feels lighter on his feet. Lagat is promising a fast race, and has hopes of running even with Bekele's meet record of 7.30,51 set in last year's meeting.

"It will be a good race," Lagat said. "Everyone knows how well Paul Koech ran in Birmingham on Saturday - a fantastic race! But I am prepared to meet them and I want to really run fast - down toward 7.30 - in my first race in Stockholm."

Borzakovskiy Unstoppable?

Another athlete who hasn't put on the brakes thus far this season is reigning 800m Olympic champion, Yuriy Borzakovskiy from Russia, who holds the GE Galan meet record with a 1.44,34 set in 2003.

Borzakovskiy has run the swiftest indoors this season, stopping the clock in 1.45,58 in Stuttgart 18 days ago, and anchored Russia to a new national 4x800m record two weeks ago, splitting 1.44,5 on his anchor leg. He's undefeated this season at 800m, and has won each of his eight races ranging from 400m to 1.000m.

Borzakovskiy will be challenged tomorrow by national teammate Dmitriy Bogdanov, who has the third-fastest time this season (1.46,24) and Kenya's Wilfred Bungei, who won the world indoor championships at this distance in Moscow two seasons ago.

Precocious Kaki Aiming High

One athlete who has begun to make a name for himself over the past three months is 18-year-old Sudanese Abubaker Kaki, a former goalee who, in his first-ever indoor competition on Sunday, ran the year's second-fastest time (1.46,06) in defeating a stellar field including Nils Schumann, the 2000 Olympic 800m champion.

Kaki been competed in athletics for only three years - winning a bronze medal at the 2005 IAAF World Youth Championships in Marrakech in his first year in the sport, but made a phenominal breakthrough in November, running a near solo 1.43,90 (the fourth-fastest of 2007) to win in Al-Qâhirah.

Kaki, who is contesting the 1.000m tomorrow, has high ambitions for himself outdoors - including breaking Sammy Koskeis 1.42,28 African record, and winning the Olympic final.

Mutola Aims to Finish Perfect in Globen

African 800m queen Maria Mutola, who set her 800m indoor best - 1.56,36 - 10 years ago in Liévin, is set to contest her final race under the lights at Globen, a venue which saw her set two 1.000m world records (2.31,23 in 1996 and 2.30,94 in 1999) in her previous five contests here.

Mutola is the reigning 800m world indoor champion, and is up against a formidable foe in Russian Olga Kotlyarova, the 600m world record-holder (1.23,44), 2006 European outdoor champion and fifth-place finisher at the 2006 World Indoor Championships. Great Britain's Jenny Meadows may also clash with the titans up front for a chance at victory.

Other Key Matchups

Field events will also offer the partisan crowd an opportunity to cheer for two of its own, as Stefan Holm, the last high jumper to clear 2,40m (2005 European Championships in Madrid), leads a field including teammate Linus Thörnblad and a Russian duo of Andrey Silnov and Ivan Ukhov, who are second and third on the yearly list with 2,37m and 2,36m clearances, respectively.

Holm, who has jumped 2,30m or higher in each of his five competitions this winter, won last year's contest with a 2,33m jump, with Thörnblad finishing second with a 2,30m clearance.

Another fantastic matchup on tap during the two hour 15 minute schedule will be the men's 400m, where Sweden's Johan Wissman takes on Tyler Christopher, who set a new Canadian record in winning last weekend's Birmingham race in what appeared to be particularly easy fashion. Christopher and Wissman finished sixth and seventh at last year's world outdoor championships, separated by 0,01 seconds.

Cuba's Dayron Robles, contesting the 60m hurdles, will be one of the featured athletes of the evening. Robles has been unstoppable by his foes, having collected seven of the 10-fastest 60m hurdles this season - including a list-leading 7,33 seconds - the second-fastest ever, and a mere 0,03 seconds from Colin Jackson's indoor world record.

Other matchups which should spark great competition are the women's long jump and the women's 1.500m.

Klüft, who has overcome an uncomfortable disk problem in her back, will oppose Russians Tatyana Kotova and Irina Simagina as well as Portugal's Naide Gomes in the long jump among others. Samagina holds the world lead with a 6,94m jump - and also has a 6,92m to her credit, with Gomes, the 2006 bronze medallist at the World Indoor Championships, third on the indoor list at 6,90m.

Bahrain's Maryam Jamal, the 2007 IAAF World 1.500m champion, will be making her season's debut in Globen, but has a lifetime best of 4.01,82 - a time which serves as both her national record and the African record. Jamal's strongest competition should be from Great Britain's Lisa Dobriskey and Ethiopia's Gelete Burka, the African Junior record-holder (3.59,60) making her indoor debut.

For the ninth-consecutive year, GE is the main sponsor for this meet, which has at present seen six world records and 22 Swedish records established at the venue. The GE Galan will be shown on television in 35 countries, and will show on TV4 in Sweden.

We've been very fortunate to have such a prestigious event staged in our backyard and play host to a wonderful array of athletes.

The GE Galan will air on RAI Sport (Hotbird 2 13°E 11804 V) between 19.40 and 21.30.

Full start lists here

(Foto credit: GE Galan homepage)

2007 Wishes Did Come True

Story written by EPelle

I made five requests of 2007 when putting together my wish list for this athletics season (blog entry), and by most accounts, I didn't waste precious space hoping for things further than the imagination could stretch. Though Marion Jones still bugs me, Trevor Graham still annoys me, and BALCO has continued living on despite the archaic form it has taken on the current events chart, I nearly struck pay dirt with the first item on my agenda, namely getting closer to a semblance of having clean sport and knocking some of the haughty riders off their horses -- including Jones and Graham.

1. Clean sport. Athletics is closer to it than at this time last year, with Jones caught with her hands in the cookie jar, some (but not all) of her medal collection returned to the rightful recipients, and Graham facing an insurmountable battle with the U.S. Justice Department over lies, lies and even more lies. Bulgarian disgraces Venelina Veneva and Vanya Stambolova were both found to have been in violation of anti-doping rules and one athlete, France's Naman Keïta, accepted responsibility for having made his mistake. There was not much trouble turning the murky waters into wine with the public, metaphorically speaking, as fan support seems to have been relatively unchanged by negative press and nearly untouched by the positive events which unfolded in 2007 -- though I'd have wished that Tatiana Lysenko, the world-record holding Russian hammer thrower, could have avoided making news in this department. Veneva had long been suspected of drugs usage by her competitors following suspicious activities which saw Veneva take long absences from main stream competition, obtain good marks in obscure competitions inside of Bulgaria where the belief that drug-testing -- if it exists -- is at a bare minimum, then hit the championships with more power and better marks than she had at any other time of the season.

   "As [the way] she has set up her seasons and suddenly appeared at championships, I have understood that there was something shady. That she has finally gotten caught is an unbelievable relief, but one had hoped that it could have occured earlier," says Kajsa Bergqvist.

2. Alan Webb did stay injury-free in 2007, but I still felt for guy following his 2007 IAAF World Championships performance when he'd been bitten by a flu-like bug which seemed to take his finishing kick and transform his legs from the Ferrari-backed motor he'd packed in there prior to his first heat to a local gym rat pushing uphill on a treadmill going nowhere fast. Webb never competes for "also ran" showings, and he laid it all down on the line in Osaka -- keeping himeslf in there from start to nearly the finish over the three laps and 300 metres which made up his 1.500m event in Japan. Webb proved in 2007 that he could keep things tightened under the belt in the middle distance department, focussing on the 800m (1.43,84 PB), 1.500m (3.30,54 PB) and mile (3.46,91 PB) events to set new best marks in each of the those, lead the world at the latter two, and set a national record in the mile; he recorded the year's second-fastest 800m. Webb seemed spent by the time his final was run, however, and had a less than successful follow-up on the Grand Prix circuit before closing out his season with a road mile victory in New York. All-in-all, however, he broke a long-standing record in Steve Scott's mile best, and outkicked Mehdi Baala on his home turf in prime time and under the lights in Friday Night fashion.
3. Stefan Holm decided to stay with the sport in 2007 and continue on through Beijing in defense of his Olympic title. I had wished for Holm to win his first IAAF World Outdoor Championships gold medal, but one Donald Thomas would steal the thunder this season -- taking the world's highest available honour in his first-ever competition at that level. Holm finished out of medal contention with a fourth-place effort in Osaka. The season-ending best mark in the event -- 2,35m, which was shared by Thomas, Jaroslav Rybakov, Holm and Kyriakos Iannou -- was lower than I'd expected, but noteworthy about the "down" high jump year is that 30 athletes cleared 2.30m outdoors -- including seven by Russians and five by Americans. That left a lot of guessing at nearly every meet this summer as to which of those folks would win what, where, how and under which circumstances, and, almost as important as who would win the global title, who the number-one ranked athelte will be is completely up for grabs, too -- though Thomas seems to have the advantage in head-to-head battles. Thomas had a losing record against Holm, and "close" records against Linus Thörnblad and Tomas Janku, but Thomas beat Holm in their World Athletics Final clash, as did he Janku and Thörnblad. However, Thomas did lose to Thörnblad in Shanghai where neither Holm nor Janku competed. André Silnov, the 2006 European Champion, tied Thomas at 1-1 on the season due to Thomas no-heighting in Shanghai. Thomas's lone loss to Victor Moya was atoned for at the world championships. Holm had five losses on the outdoor season -- four of which were in his final four competitions.
4. The world did not see Kenenisa Bekele at his best in the 2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombassa, Kenya. Scorching humidity and heat ended the reign of the Great Bekele, who did not complete the race following a late charge to take the lead, and threw his track and field season off as well. For once, Bekele was made human over the hills, and scooped up times and marks on the track which scraped any hopes of him doubling at the IAAF World Championships in an equally hot and humid Osaka. Bekele had commanded my total respect for disabling competitors upon demand and playing catch with fire since his initial double-double IAAF Cross Country World Championships victories in 2001, and in the winter of this year, he became the first man to break 4.50 over 2.000m indoors, running 4.49,99 at the Norwich Union Grand Prix. His competitors, however -- many of whom were his compatriots -- gained new-found hope and life in believing they could make a challenge of defeating the weaker, non-dominant Kenenisa Bekele a reality over 25 laps to be run at 21.40 on a hot August evening, the 27th of August -- first and foremost Sileshi Sihine, who stuck it to Bekele in a masterful and memorable final lap, but one which saw Bekele turn back the charge and create a silver-medalist out of Sihine again following their identical finish two years earlier in Helsinki, which followed their identical finish at the Athens Olympics as well. Sihine has collected three silver medals and a bronze at either the World Championships or Olympic Games. Bekele was able to record the year's three-quickest outdoor 3.000m times, running 7.25,79 - 7.26,69 and 7.29,32. Bekele's world-leading mark is the eighth-fastest of all-time, and he's the sixth-fastest ever at the distance.
5. The final golden moment of 2007 was to have been Kajsa Bergqvist jumping over 2,09m either indoors or out. She didn't. Kajsa had trouble hitting 2,00m this outdoor season as she found it difficult to balance ground training her coach, Yannick Tregaro, had wished for her to endure versus getting in quality meets which she believed would help her reach her season's potential, which she felt was certainly higher than the 2,02m she recorded in Torino. Bergqvist would separate from Tregaro's group following the World Championships. Bergqvist had my hope button alive with talk of improving her world record in 2007, but it was Blanka Vlašic who made headlines this season. Bergqvist made it clear in no uncertain terms last winter that she was going to make an assault on the 16-year-old world indoor record of 2,07m held by Heike Henkel, and she eclipsed that mark with Henkel in attendance, jumping 2.08m in Arnstadt on 2006-February-4. She then made a pact to give a go at seriously attempting to take down Stefka Kostadinova's 2,09m from Rome set 19 years earlier. That perfect-day, best-ever jump was not to unfold outdoors in 2006, leaving Bergqvist even more loaded and focused from having missed nearly a year-and-a-half following her ruptured achilles injury suffered in the spring of 2004. What Bergqvist hadn't had time to see as she struggled in chartering for green pastures in the world record pursuit was that Vlašic had found incredible focus and determination during the indoor season, and was able to translated that to a near-undefeated outdoor campaign, topping the yearly list at 2,07m, and also jumping 2,06m, twice clearing 2,05m and finishing two other competitions with 2,04m victories; she toppled the 2,00m barrier in an incredible 17 competitions in 2007. Her lone defeat was a second-place finish at the Oslo Golden League to Yelena Slesarenko, who at that early time, was in contention for the $1.000.000 Golden League jackpot. Vlašic had the misfortune of having her only loss of the season come in the Golden League, and also missed out on the jackpot. Russia's Anna Chicherova as well as Italy's Antonietta Di Martino brought their "A" game to the World Championships, where I'd hoped that clearing 2,04m would only yield a bronze to the third-best of the group. Both athletes cleared 2,03m, with Chicherova taking the third spot on the podium. The most women ever to clear 2,00m in an IAAF World Championships final before Osaka was three, but five women in Japan went on to attempt 2,03m -- with four successful over 2,00m. Slesarenko had the misfortune of finishing fourth in 2,00m, with compatriot Yekaterina Savchenko the fourth over the same height -- making that three Russians over 2,00m in the same competition. Bergqvist finished tied for seventh with a best of 1,94m.

A thousand other small wishes came true throughout the 2007 season as well, with Asafa Powell setting a new world record in the 100m (9,74) and me having had the opportunity to meet Xavier Carter in person (Glasgow). I had also hoped that Carolina Klüft could finally break the European record in the heptathlon. She was able to manage that in Osaka, amassing 7.032 points and becoming the second-best performer of all-time behind American Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

I'd also hoped for a season of faster times and good marks, and 2007 did not disappoint in that category, either, with Allyson Felix running excellent 200m (21,81) and 400m (49,70) times in Europe and Osaka, and a stellar 48-flat relay leg on the winning 4x400m at the IAAF World Championships. Tyson Gay blazed an incredible 9,84-19,62 at his national championships, and U.S. collegian Walter Dix screached to 9,93 - 19,69 times whilst in university competition.

Finally, not to continue touting my Swedish team, but Johan Wissman's 400m exploits this summer -- culminating in a seventh-place finish at the World Championships following a national-record 44,56 in the semi-finals -- was one of those hidden gems which made wishes worth making and dreams worth having.

Now that the season is virtually concluded (although there was a 10,10 100m recorded last week at the World Military Games), I'll have time to finally sit back and reflect on what was truly inspiring, and which athletes I believe can provide me the greatest entertainment value leading up to Beijing.

Until then, I'm going to enjoy cross country and the road races around Europe. I hate to admit this, but I am a bit "tracked" out.

Thörnblad Sets - and Loses - WL on Saturday

Story written by EPelle

Friidrott.se reported last evening that Linus Thörnblad, fourth at the 2006 European Outdoor Championships here on his home turf in Sweden, won the Adeccospel in Malmö with a new world-leading 2.31m clearance (results link).

The mark, which improved by one centimetre Russian Ivan Uchov's previous world-leading mark of 2.30m set 7-January in Yekaterinaburg, was a season's best for the Swede, who then had the bar raised to 2.35m.

Thörnblad, who turns 22 on 6-March, took two very good attempts at the would-be personal best, narrowly missing a mark which would have been the equal third-best all-time indoors for Swedes, tying Staffan Strand's mark from five years ago.

Thörnblad, the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships bronze medalist, must have felt an urgent need to raise the bar, as his hours-old world-leading mark was short-lived when Russian Andrey Tereshin jumped 2.33m at the Moravská Daylong Tour in the Czech Republic.

Hometown favourites Jaroslav Baba, Svatoslav Ton and Tomas Janku - who finished a surprising second at the 2006 European Championships ahead of Stefan Holm, and thus denied Thörnblad a medal spot - finished far out of the running, with clearances of 2.20m, 2.24m and 2.27m respectively.

Tereshin, who finished second at the 2005 World Indoor Championships in Moscow (2.35m), failed twice at 2.30m, and took three attempts to clear 2.33m. He had the fourth-best jump (2.36m) indoors in 2006.

Croatian Blanka Vlasic made her final effort at 1.96m count, as she defeated 2006 European silver medalist Venelina Veneva, who also cleared the same height. Vlasic passed at 1.98m, and failed to clear the 2.00m barrier.

The high jump promises to be a fantastic event this season as Russian Andrej Silnov, the 2006 European Champion, having spoken of taking the world record up to 2.46m (IAAF report), and the European Indoor Championships final expected to rekindle the magic which saw Stefan Holm jump 2.40m two years ago in Madrid.

Fifteen athletes jumped 2.30m or higher indoors in 2006, led by Russian Jaroslav Rybakov's 2.37m winning performances in Moscow and Arnstadt.

Ukhov finished second to Rybakov in Arnstadt, setting a personal best of 2.37m. Ukrainian Andriy Sokolovskyy led Tereshin and Silnov at 2.36m, with Thörnblad occupying the six spot on the 2006 world indoor list with a 2.34m clearance from Banská Bystrica, the meet where Sokolovskyy set his indoor best.

Thörnblad, who won the 2006 World Athletics final, is trained by Stanislaw Szczyrba, and has now jumped over 2.30m on 12 occasions.

Moravská Daylong Tour
Men's Results:

1. Andrey Tereshin RUS 2.33m; 2. Peter Horák SVK 2.27m; Victor Moya CUB 2.24m; 3. Aleksandr Shustov RUS 2.24m; 4. Viktor Shapoval UKR 2.24m; 5. Aleksey Dmitrik RUS 2.24m; 6. Stanislav Malyarenko RUS 2.20m; 7. Tomáš Janků CZE 2.20m; 8. Andrea Bettinelli ITA 2.20m; 9. Svatoslav Ton CZE 2.20m; 10. Kwaku Boateng CAN 2.20m; 11. Jaroslav Bába CZE 2.15m; 12. BenChallenger GBR 2.15m; 13. Luboš Benko SVK 2.10m; 14. Jiří Křehula CZE 2.10m

Women's Results:

1. Blanka Vlasic CRO 1.96m; 2. Venelina Veneva BUL 1.96m; 3. Yekaterina Kuntsevich RUS 1.94m; 4. Marina Aitova KAZ 1.92m; 5. Romana Dubnová CZE 1.87m; 5. Oana Pantelimon ROM 1.87m; 7. Andrea Ispan ROM 1.80m; 7. Svetlana Shkolina RUS 1.80m; 9. Maresa Cadienhead CAN 1.80m; 10. Elena Brambilla ITA 1.75m

Full results found here.
IAAF story here.
Linus Thörnblad's homepage.

Thörnblad's 10-best marks:

1. 2.34m - European Champs-Final, Göteborg - 2006-08-09 (4)
2. 2.34m - Banska Bystrica, Slovakia – 2006-02-14 (2)
3. 2.33m - World Athletic Final, Stuttgart - 2006-09-10 (1)
4. 2.33m - Indoor World Champs -Final, Moscow – 2006-03-11 (3)
5. 2.33m - Adeccospelen, Malmö, - 2006-01-21 (1)
6. 2.31m - Swedish Indoor Champs, Malmö - 2005-02-12 (1)
7. 2.31m - Telenorgalan, Karlskrona - 2005-06-12 (1)
8. 2.30m - Finnkampen, Helsinki - 2006-08-25 (1)
9. 2.30m - MAI-Galan, Malmö - 2006-08-22 (1)
10. 2.30m - Lundahoppet, Lund 2006-06-22 (1)