As Ekaterina Koneva continues to make her way up the triple jump rankings she is heading to the European Athletics Championships in August as a genuine contender for gold.
In the Principality of Monaco last Friday she ticked off yet another box in her career as she edged ever closer to the magical 15m mark with a personal best 14.89 and the promise of more to come.
“It is possible for me to jump much further than Monaco because I had only arrived from Khabarovsk three days earlier and there was a nine hour time difference to overcome.”
Jet-lagged or not, it was a battle with Caterine Ibarguen that was only resolved in the final round when the Colombian world champion flew out to 15.31.
Having attacked Koneva’s second-round lead throughout the whole of the evening, it was only on her final attempt that Ibarguen was spurred on to produce the longest triple jump for six years.
It is an indication of the Russian’s desire to win that she even resented the nil wind reading that accompanied the Colombian’s final effort while her last jump was into a very slight minus wind.
But she took heart from the occasion: “Ibarguen does not normally take all her jumps and I could see that I had made her nervous. It was a good sign for me and my coach that I managed to lead until the very last moment. It means that we are on the right path.”
Despite her disappointment at that defeat, Koneva sees room for improvement: “All my jumps were good [in Monaco] I made fewer technical errors, I am steadily progressing, the potential for growth is there and considerable growth at that.”
So the 25 year old from the far east of Russia close to the Chinese border now confronts the European Athletics Championships in Zurich with every chance of adding the continental title to her growing lists of achievements.
In Switzerland she will reacquaint herself with the defending champion, Olha Saladukha of the Ukraine, whom she defeated so comprehensively in the European Athletics Team Championships in Braunschweig by 20cm.
On home turf in Moscow, Koneva also finished ahead of the Ukrainian when she took silver in last summer’s World Championships, pushing Saladukha into the bronze medal position.
But Koneva is taking nothing for granted and looking for improvements all the time: “We are already thinking of the long jump as an extra event,” she said.
But she insisted it was more to help with the second phase of the triple jump rather than the long jump as something she would take up for its own sake. Though that was not entirely ruled out: “But I will only begin to try the long jump in competition next year.”
Koneva now goes into the Russian championships in Kazan which start Wednesday 23 and run until Saturday 26 July. She will be using this to fine-tune her preparation for Zurich.
After double gold in the World University Games, silver at the World Championships and gold in the World Indoors last winter, Koneva now confronts the chance to lift the continental crown.
“The important thing for me now is not to relax too much and to go into the European championships in the right shape,” she noted. “It is vital to hold my form physically and mentally.”