Sergey Malchenko (russian: Сергей Мальченко; born 2 November 1963) is a Russian former

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who competed in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

. His personal best mark of ranks him among the top twenty high jumpers of all-time and at his peak his was the sixth best ever in the event. He represented the Soviet Union three times in major international competition: he was the silver medallist at the European Athletics Championships in 1986, and a finalist at the

1987 World Championships in Athletics The 2nd World Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations were held in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy between August 28 and September 6, 1987. Men's results Track 1983 , 1987 ...

and

1989 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 1989 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held at Houtrust in The Hague, Netherlands, on 18 and 19 February 1989. Medal summary Men Women Medal table Participating nations * (7) * (13) * (8) * (4) * (15) * (3) * (9) * (11) * ( ...

. His son, Eduard Malchenko, is also a professional high jumper, who has a best of .

Career

He began competing in the 1980s. In 1983 set a personal best of in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, then jumped in

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

in 1985.Sergey Malchenko
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2014-07-10. His first international success came at the

1986 European Athletics Championships The 14th European Athletics Championships were held from 26 to 31 August 1986 at the Neckarstadion, now known as Mercedes-Benz Arena, in Stuttgart, a city in West Germany. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald. ...

, where he equalled his personal best in the high jump final to take the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

behind Soviet team mate

Igor Paklin Igor Vasilyevich Paklin (russian: Игорь Васильевич Паклин; born 15 June 1963 in Frunze, Kirghiz SSR) is a retired Kyrgyz athlete who represented USSR and later Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republi ...

. The following year he was selected to represent the Soviet Union at the

but, after qualifying for

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 ...

he failed to register a height. The two other Soviets in the competition, Paklin and

Hennadiy Avdyeyenko Hennadiy Valentynovych Avdyeyenko ( ua, Геннадій Валентинович Авдєєнко) (born November 4, 1963 in Odessa) is a retired high jumper who represented the USSR and later Ukraine. He trained at the Armed Forces sports socie ...

, reached the medal podium. Following this setback, he went on to clear the greatest heights of his career. At the beginning of the 1988 indoor season he jumped in Moscow and took his first national title at the

Soviet Indoor Athletics Championships The Soviet Indoor Athletics Championships (russian: Чемпионат СССР по лёгкой атлетике в помещении) was an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the Soviet Athletics Federation, which served a ...

. He performed well on the outdoor Soviet circuit that year, jumping an outdoor best of in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

, then 2.36 m in

Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

. In

Banská Bystrica Banská Bystrica (, also known by other alternative names) is a middle-sized town in central Slovakia, located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mo ...

, Czechoslovakia, he had the best mark of his career in the form of a jump – an achievement which moved him up to joint sixth place on the all-time lists.High Jump - men - senior - outdoor All Time Best
IAAF. Retrieved on 2014-07-10. This made him the second best athlete that year, behind

Javier Sotomayor Javier Sotomayor Sanabria (; born October 13, 1967) is a Cuban retired track and field athlete, who specialized in the high jump and is the current world record holder. The 1992 Olympic champion, he was the dominant high jumper of the 1990s; hi ...

who broke the

men's high jump world record The first world record in the men's high jump was recognised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in 1912. As of June, 2009, the IAAF has ratified 40 world records in the event. Fourteen of the 16 records from 1912 t ...

. He ended the year with a win at the

Russian Athletics Cup Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea ...

, jumping . Malchenko's sole international appearance the following year was at the

, but he could not match his previous form and ended the competition in sixth place with a best of , placing behind fellow Soviet

Aleksey Yemelin Aleksey Yemelin (russian: Алексей Емелин; born October 16, 1968) is a retired high jumper who represented the USSR and later Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Eu ...

among others. He competed on the

IAAF Grand Prix The IAAF Grand Prix was an annual, global circuit of one-day outdoor track and field competitions organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It was created in 1985 as the IAAF's first seasonal track and field circu ...

circuit in 1990 and placed third at the

DN Galan BAUHAUS-galan, formerly known as DN-Galan is an annual, international athletics meeting that takes place at the Olympic Stadium in Stockholm. Previously it was one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events until 2010, and has since been part of th ...

and second at the

Athletissima Athletissima is an annual athletics meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Diamond League. The first edition was held on 8 July 1977 in the Stade Pierre de Coubertin. In ...

and London Grand Prix meets. At the

1990 IAAF Grand Prix Final The 1990 IAAF Grand Prix Final was the sixth edition of the season-ending competition for the IAAF Grand Prix track and field circuit, organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It was held on 7 September at the Olympic St ...

he came out on top with a season's best jump of . He was third on points on the tour that year, behind Hollis Conway and Georgi Dakov.IAAF Grand Prix
GBRAthletics. Retrieved on 2014-07-10. He ranked within the top twenty high jumpers in 1991, having a season's best of 2.30 m. His form declined the following year, in which he jumped a best of at the

Brothers Znamensky Memorial The Brothers Znamensky Memorial (russian: Мемориал братьев Знаменских) is an annual track and field competition which is held at the Meteor Stadium in Zhukovsky, Russia. The event is held in memory of Seraphim and Georgy ...

, and he retired from competition.

Personal bests

*Outdoor high jump – (1988) *Indoor high jump – (1988)

International competition record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Malchenko, Sergey Living people 1963 births Russian male high jumpers Soviet male high jumpers World Athletics Championships athletes for the Soviet Union European Athletics Championships medalists