Chicherova over Russian record and world-leading 2.06m in Arnstadt | 05.02.2012
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| World champion Anna Chicherova cleared a world season leading mark of 2.06m in Arnstadt, Germany, on Saturday. |
Chicherova moves up to equal third on the world all-time rankings with only Sweden's world record holder Kajsa Bergvist, who cleared 2.08m in 2006, and Germany's former world record holder Heike Henkel, who went over 2007 back in 1992, better than her.
The 2011 World Championship gold medallist cleared the record height - which was also a two centimetres improvement on her own Russian indoor record which she also co-held with 2004 Olympic champion Yelena Slesarenko after she had cleared 2.04m in both 2003 and 2004 - on her third attempt.
She decided to call it a day after her feat and did not put the bar any higher, in similar fashion to when she went over a Russian outdoor record of 2.07m on home soil in Cheboksary last summer.
Her next meeting will be on Wednesday at another special high jump meeting in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, which is also a European Athletics Indoor Permit Meeting.
Chicherova's compatriot Irina Gordeyeva was second with 1.97m, the same height as Belgium's 2008 Olympic champion Tia Hellebaut, who was third on the basis of having more failures during the competition. Both women move up to second place on the European yearly rankings but Chicherova remains the only person to have gone over 2.00m or more this winter and she has already done it three times.
Russian high jumpers also finished first and second in the men's event in Arnstadt with 2011 World Championships silver medallist Aleksey Dmitrik getting the verdict over 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships winner Ivan Ukhov. Both men cleared 2.30m before failing at 2.33m, with Dmitrik having less failures.
Greece's Kostadinos Baniotis, fourth at last year's 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships, also go over season's best of 2.30m but had to settle for third while Germany's Raul Spank was fourth with 2.27m.
