The women's
high jump event at the
2009 World Championships in
Berlin, Germany
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constituent ...
was held between 18 August and 20 August 2009.
Reigning champion
Blanka Vlašić
Blanka Vlašić (; born 8 November 1983) is a Croatian former track and field athlete who specialized in the high jump. She is a two-time world champion and double Olympic medallist who ranks as the joint second highest female jumper of all tim ...
had spent the 2007 and 2008 seasons largely unbeaten, but high-profile losses in the
Olympic high jump final and the
2008 IAAF Golden League final spelled the end for her lengthy winning streak. The rise of
Germany's Ariane Friedrich
Ariane Friedrich (born Tempel; 10 January 1984 in Nordhausen) is a German high jumper. She won the silver medal at the 2009 World Championships and represented Germany at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics. She is the German ...
in the 2009 season had seen her take the
European Indoor title and make the world-leading jump of 2.06 m. Having beaten Vlašić in three of their five meetings that season, she was one of Germany's best prospects for a gold medal on home turf. Outside of the two top high jumpers,
Antonietta Di Martino
Antonietta Di Martino (born 1 June 1978) is a retired Italian high jumper. She currently holds the Italian national women's high jump record at 2.03 metres for outdoor events and 2.04 metres for indoor events. She also currently holds the women ...
and
Ruth Beitia
Ruth Beitia Vila (; born 1 April 1979) is a retired high jumper who was the 2016 Olympic champion in the women's high jump. She was also a politician in the Partido Popular and a member of the Parliament of Cantabria.
Biography
Beitia firs ...
had also performed well that season and
2004 Olympic gold medallist
Yelena Slesarenko
Yelena Vladimirovna Slesarenko, née Sivushenko (russian: Елена Владимировна Слесаренко; born February 28, 1982 in Volgograd) is a Russian high jumper.
Largely unknown before 2004, she kick started the season by cleari ...
was another strong contender.
Vlašić had an unexpected setback before the qualifiers, suffering a deep gash in her head after hitting a doorway, but after receiving stitches she arrived at the stadium in time for the competition. All the expected finalists made their way through the qualification rounds. All but three of the twelve finalists managed the 1.95 m automatic qualifying mark, with
Meike Kröger being a surprise second finalist for the host nation through her best non-qualifying mark of 1.92 m. Although the event was largely portrayed as a head-to-head between Vlašić and Friedrich, Russian
Anna Chicherova
Anna Vladimirovna Chicherova (russian: Анна Владимировна Чичерова; born 22 July 1982) is a Russian high jumper. She was the gold medalist at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and origin ...
proved to be a significant contender in the final.
[
Performing before a sold-out stadium, Di Martino and Beitia finished their competition with a best of 1.99 m, leaving Vlašić, Friedrich and Chicherova to compete for the medals. The Russian took the lead, managing 2.02 m on her first attempt, while the Croatian and the German needed two and three jumps, respectively. Vlašić was the first over 2.04 m and Chicherova recorded three fouls, unable to pass the height. Friedrich, who was in third place, twice failed the height and raised the bar to 2.06 m to try to take the gold medal position. Her final effort, although close, was not enough and she finished with the bronze. Vlašić then raised the bar to the ]world record
A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...
of 2.10 m, but failed to jump the height.[Ramsak, Bob (2009-08-20)]
Event Report – Women's High Jump – Final
. IAAF
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...
. Retrieved on 2009-08-24.
Friedrich did not repeat the form which had seen her set a national record of 2.06 m at the Olympiastadion
Olympiastadion is the German, Finnish and Swedish word for Olympic Stadium and may refer to:
* Stockholm Olympic Stadium, the host of the 1912 Summer Olympics (though mostly referred as simply ''Stockholms Stadion'')
* Olympiastadion (Berlin), the ...
two months earlier, leaving Vlašić and Chicherova to repeat their gold and silver medal performances of the 2007 World Championships in Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
.[ Vlašić, who became the first to win consecutive world titles in the event since ]Hestrie Cloete
Hestrie Cloete OIS (née Storbeck; born on 26 August 1978) is a former South African professional high jumper. Her foremost achievements were winning two world championships and two silver medals at the Olympic Games.
Career
Cloete was disc ...
, said that she was surprised that 2.04 m had been enough for the gold medal and she expected to go much higher. Second-placed Chicherova said neither she, nor athletics commentators, had expected her to win the silver medal, but she had overcome prior injury concerns. Although gold had not materialised for Friedrich, she was happy with her bronze medal – her first at a World Championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
.[James, Ryland (2009-08-21)]
High-jump queen Vlasic retains world crown
Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency.
AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C ...
. Retrieved on 2009-08-23.
Medalists
Records
Qualification standards
Schedule
Results
Qualification
Qualification: Qualifying Performance 1.95 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
.
Key: Q = qualification by place in heat, q = qualification by overall place, SB = Seasonal best
Final
References
;General
High jump results
IAAF
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...
. Retrieved on 2022-07-19.
;Specific
{{DEFAULTSORT:2009 World Championships In Athletics - Women's High Jump
High jump
High jump at the World Athletics Championships
2009 in women's athletics