Europe looking to leap to victory at Continental Cup
Europe is hoping to see their women athletes jump to victory at the Continental Cup in Split, Croatia this weekend. Leading the group of jumpers, who will compete in the high jump, long jump, triple jump and pole vault, is Blanka Vlasic, silver medallist in the 2008 Olympic Games.
There will be four teams competing for the Continental Cup: the Americas, Africa, Asia/Oceania, and Europe. Each continent is allowed to send two athletes to each field event. Men’s events and women’s events are weighted equally. They will earn points for victories, and the winner is the continent with the most combined points.
Vlasic of Croatia, and Emma Green will represent Europe in the high jump. Vlasic has a personal best jump of 2.08m, the world record is 2.09m, and after easily winning the World Challenge on Wednesday she should have little trouble winning the high jump for Europe.
To further inspire Vlasic, she will be competing in her home town, but interestingly it is only the second time she’s ever jumped in Poljud stadium.
“I was about 14 and I can’t remember whether it was training or a competition. I didn’t think then about how Poljud wasn’t used for athletics,” said Vlasic. “But now I’m really excited about the idea and can’t wait for the stands to be filled for athletics.”
Behind Vlasic is Green, who finished ninth at the Beijing Olympics, and set a personal best jump earlier this year at the European Championships in Barcelona with a jump of 2.01m.
Russian Svetlana Feofanova, two-time Olympic medallist, will be competing in the pole vault. She won the European title in Barcelona with a jump of 4.75m, her personal best is 4.88m, becoming the first women’s pole vaulter to win the European Championship twice. Her first European Championship came in 2002 in Munich.
Joining Feofanova in the pole vault is Lisa Ryzih of Germany, who her personal best distance of 4.65m earlier this year, and comes from a family of athletes. Her sister, Anastasija Reiberger, has a personal best of 4.63m, and her father Vladimir Ryzih, who is also her coach, has a personal best jump of 5.40m, set in the 1970s.
European Champion Ineta Radevica of Latvia will represent Europe in the long jump. She set her personal best distance of 6.92m, a Latvian record, earlier this year in Barcelona, and will be looking to continue her season’s success at the Continental Cup.
Just behind Radevica at the European Championships was Naide Gomes of Portugal, who is now be Radevica’s teammate. Gomes’ personal best is 7.12m, set in 2008. Together the two will be formidable opponents for the other team’s long jumpers, and it is difficult to predict which of the two will end up on top.
Another European Athletics champion on the team will be Olha Saladuha of Ukraine, who has a personal best of 14.81m in the triple jump. In winning the European title by 25 cm, Saladuha tied the record for the largest margin of victory in the history of the championships. Fellow Ukrainian, Inessa Kravets, was the other woman to win the European title by 25cm, and she also happens to be the current world record holder in the triple jump. While Saladuha may not be expecting to break her record of 15.50m, she is surely looking to at least get close.
Simona La Mantia of Italy will be Europe’s second athlete in the triple jump after she won silver behind Saladuha in Barcelona. She has a personal best distance of 14.69, set in 2005 and this year her season best is 14.56, the distance that earned her the European silver.
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