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Chicherova tops the bill as Europe's women look for Zurich pointers

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In the world of sprinting, the fastest men in the world often avoid each other ahead of the summer’s major championships but that is far from the case with the sport’s leading women high jumpers. 

Infact, they are all going head to head just 10 weeks before gold becomes their priority at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich.

At the end of next month in Eugene, the Prefontaine Classic IAAF Diamond League will feature a galaxy of European stars from the event.

And in this one meeting, it will show just how high the standard of women’s high jumping has become in Europe.

Russia’s Olympic champion Anna Chicherova will lead the field on the west coast of the USA in a competition which includes the gold medallists from the last five major championships.

Chicherova, who triumphed in London in 2012, will face fellow Russians Svetlana Shkolina, who won in Moscow last summer, and Mariya Kuchina, who shared gold at the World Indoor Championships in Sopot in March with Kamila Licwinko, of Poland, who is also in Eugene.

Ruth Beitia, Spain’s European champion, indoor and out, will be competing, along with Italy’s Alessia Trost, the World Junior champion, and another Russian, Irina Gordeyeva, who was third behind Beitia in Helsinki in 2012.

American Brigetta Barrett, the Olympic and World silver medallist, is the only non-European in the field.

What a way to whet the appetite for Zurich - where of course Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic will be among the assembled throng, too, in what will be arguably the greatest women’s high jump event in the history of the European Athletics Championships.

Eugene will be a tremendous way for the women to test each other out, to see who is setting the standard at the early part of the summer and to put in a jump where the rest have to stand up and take notice.

Often, even this far out from the major championship, one good performance could have a major psychological effect on the rest.

The clash between Chicherova and Shkolina could become one of the running themes of the summer leading into Zurich.

In front of their home crowd in Moscow, Chicherova was the defending World champion last summer and the favourite but Shkolina produced the performance of her life to beat her in the final as she equalled her personal best of 2.03m.

Chicherova shared bronze with Beitia on 1.97m, with Barrett taking silver with 2.00m.

Eugene may just be the start of a special year for the event and with such incredible competition ahead; could 2014 be the time when Bulgarian Stefka Kostadinova’s 1987 world record of 2.09m is finally breached?

PERSONAL BESTS OF THE LEADING WOMEN IN EUGENE

Anna Chicherova (Rus) 2.07m

Irina Gordeyeva (Rus) 2.04m

Brigetta Barrett (USA) 2.04m

Svetlana Shkolina (Rus) 2.03m

Ruth Beitia (Spa) 2.02m

Mariya Kuchina (Rus) 2.01m (indoors)

Kamila Licwinko (Pol) 2.00m (indoors)

Alessia Trost (Ita) 2.00m (indoors)




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