Ivan Ukhov of Russia cleared 2.37m at the 6th Moravia High Jump Tour meet in Hustopece, Czech Republic, over the weekend.

European indoor champion Ivan Ukhov of Russia starred at the 6th Moravia High Jump Tour in Hustopece, going over 2.37m for a new meet record, world lead and best-ever indoor mark in the Czech Republic.

Ukhov started at 2.20m with a training jump, and continued at 2.28, 2.30 and 2.32 with first-attempt clearances.

He then cleared 2.37 before having three unsuccessful attempts at 2.41, going extremely close with the first one.

Ukhov will now compete in the second leg of the 6th Moravia High Jump Tour on Tuesday in Trinec.

Another impressive showing came from USA's Dusty Jonas who, despite a tight Achilles, cleared on his third attempt at 2.30.

Italian Alessandro Talotti was third, local hero Jaroslav Baba fourth and Briton Samson Oni fifth, going over 2.28 to achieve the IAAF World Indoor Championships qualifying standard.

Ukrainian Dmytro Demyanyuk after 2.24 passed 2.28 and had very close attempts at 2.30.

The 2003 world champion, Jacques Freitag, returned to the European indoor scene after five years and looked confident with his 2.15 mark.

European indoor gold medallist Ariane Friedrich of Germany said before the competition that she had not tried jumps over the bar in her training so far.

That is why she started carefully with a 1.89 clearance and had another easy one at 1.92. She then cleared 1.95 at her second attempt, earning her the world lead and a win for her.

Friedrich then passed at 1.98 and tried immediately for a meet record of 2.01, with all three attempts going close.

"I didn't exactly know what I could expect from today's competition," said Friedrich. "It showed I can jump high in next meetings."

Russian Svetlana Shkolina and Czech Iva Strakova tied for second with 1.92, the Doha worlds standard, and both had good attempts at 1.95.

The 2005 world medallist Chaunte Howard-Lowe of USA also cleared 1.92 - on her second attempt - and also went at 1.95 before finishing fourth.

Friedrich and Shkolina will not compete in Trinec on Tuesday, although world champion Blanka Vlasic will take part

Results

1. Ukhov 237 MR, WL, 2. Jonas 230, 3. Talotti 228, 4. Baba 228, 5. Oni 228, 6. Demyanyuk 224, 7. Nieto 224, 8. Mudrov 220, 9. Freitag 215, 10. Horak 215, 11. Kabelka 215, 12t. Grayman and Harsanyi 210.

1. Friedrich 195, 2t. Shkolina and Strakova 192, 4. Howard 192, 5. Maresova 185, 6t. Stepaniuk and Mamlina 185, 8t. Lalakova and Spencer 185,  10. Ayhan 175.