Moravia High Jump Tour

The Moravia High Jump Tour is an elite-level, invitation-only, indoor Athletics competition for the world's best high jumpers, both men and women. It is a high jump-only competition, held in the eastern Czech region of Moravia. Although the competition is held in small basketball gymnasiums, without a track, the Tour is sanctioned by the IAAF, the sport's governing body. First organized as a Tour in 2005, it quickly became the world's best (non-championship) indoor competition and routinely produces world-leading jumps. Held in the Czech Republic in late January each year, the Tour initially consisted of three stops spread over a week, including the town of Ostrava, but in 2008 it was shortened to two competitions held three days apart in the towns of Hustopeče and Třinec. The two events are now usually held on a Wednesday and Saturday, or, on Saturday and Tuesday. The first Tour was, officially, only for Men, but a Women's competition was held in 2005. The Women's program was formally launched at the 2006 Tour, at all three towns.

The town of Trinec is located near the city of Ostrava, in eastern Czech Republic. The Trinec event is also known as The Beskyd’s Bar and is held at the Vitality Slezsko Indoor Tennis Arena: competitors are allowed to practice on the converted tennis court the evening before the competition. The city of Hustopece is located near Brno.

Jumpers are encouraged to "play to the crowd" and the indoor party atmosphere is further enhanced by having music played as they prepare to jump. The narrow basketball gymnasium at Hustopece can only accommodate 1,000 spectators, while about 2,000 can squeeze into the facility at Trinec. Rubberized floor panels are laid down over the wooden basketball court so that the jumpers can wear their jumping shoes with short spikes.

Although jumpers are invited to compete in all stops on the Tour, often their schedules permit them to jump at only one venue.Also, severe winter weather occasionally prevents athletes from flying into the Czech Republic, and can even hamper travel between Tour cities. In addition to the individual event winners, an overall Men's and Women's champion is crowned based on the combined heights of their best jumps in the two (initially, three) cities.

First organized as a Tour in January 2005, over its first four years the series witnessed 14 men's marks of 2.30 m or better (7 feet 6 1/2 inches), and on the women's side twenty (20) marks of 1.92 m  or higher (6 ft 3 1/2in). For reasons that can not be explained, but are obvious to the jumpers, the gymnasium at Hustopece has consistently yielded higher results than the facility at Trinec, for both men and women. After the 4th Tour in 2008, the meet records at Trinec were 2.32 (Jaroslav Baba, 2004) and 1.97 (Barbora Lalakova, 2008), while at Hustopece they were 2.36 (Ivan Ukhov, 2008) and 1.99 (Vita Palamar and Ariane Friedrich, 2008).

Russian jumper Ivan Ukhov won the Men's competition at the Tour in 2009, 2010 and 2011, each time breaking the meet record with a world-leading jump: 2.36 at Hustopece in 2009; 2.37 at Hustopece in 2010, and 2.38 (7 ft 9 1/2 in) at Hustopece in 2011. At the 2011 event in Hustopece, Ukhov attempted three times to leap 2.44 (8 feet), one centimeter higher than the world indoor record set by Javier Sotomayor in 1989. The 44-year-old Cuban was in attendance to watch the 24-year-old Russia narrowly miss on his second jump, brushing the bar on his way down.

1st Moravia High Jump Tour 2005
The inaugural Tour event included three stops: first leg at Hustopece, second at Trinec, and the third stop in Ostrava on Saturday 29 January. Czech jumper Jaroslav Baba was the overall winner on the Men's side, competing in all three venues with marks of 2.35 (first), 2.27 and 2.25 (third), totalling 687 cm. Svatoslav Ton was second overall (676 cm) and American Tora Harris was third (670 cm). A total of 19 male jumpers competed for the three-meet Tour in 2005.

 A total of 16 Women competed in 2005, although it was not recognized as an IAAF-sanctioned event for the women that year.
 
Hustopece: The Men's winner was local Czech hero Jaroslav Baba, who established a world-leading jump of 2.35 m.

Trinec:

Ostrava: The Men's winner was Czech Svatoslav Ton with a third-attempt clearance of . Ukrainian Yuriy Krymarenko was second at 2.27, and (Ostrava's hometown hero) Jaroslav Baba was third at 2.25 (passing 2.27 and missing all three attempts at 2.29).

2nd Moravia High Jump Tour 2006
The second season saw the addition of a Women's competition. The overall Men's winner was again Czech favorite Svatoslav Ton. A total of 22 men and 15 women - representing 13 countries - competed for the three-stop Tour.

Trinec: The first venue was at Trinec on Monday 16 January. Russian Ivan Ukhov and Czech Tomas Janku both cleared 2.28, but Ukhov was the winner based on fewer misses. Svatoslav Ton was third at 2.24. On the Women's' side, Czech jumpers Barbora Lalakova and Iva Strakova both cleared 1.92, with Lalakova the victor. Irina Glavatskikh (Russia) was third at 1.89.

Ostrava: The second Tour stop was Ostrava, on Wednesday 18 January. Ivan Ukhov was again the Men's winner, with the same result of 2.28.

Hustopece: The third Tour stop was Hustopece, on Saturday 21 January. Svatoslav Ton won on the Men's side with a jump of 2.33, while Ivan Ukhov was second at 2.31. Iva Strakova won the Women's event with a leap of 1.93, and Irina AGlavatskikh was second at 1.90.

3rd Moravia High Jump Tour 2007
The 3rd Tour in 2007 consisted of three stops. First in Hustopece on Saturday 20 January, second in Ostrava on Tuesday 23 January, and the third stop in Trinec on Thursday 25 January. Thomas Janku won the overall Men's competition (combined 680 cm), while Marina Aitova won the Women's title with a combined height of 574 cm.

Hustopece: (Saturday 20 January) Russian Andrei Tereshin won the Men's event at 2.33.

Ostrava: (Tuesday 23 January)

Trinec: (Thursday 25 January)

4th Moravia High Jump Tour 2008
The 4th version of the Tour was shortened to two stops, with the elimination of Ostrava. The first leg of the 2008 Tour was held at Hustopece on Saturday 19 January, with the second stop in Trinec on Monday 21 January.

Hustopece: (Saturday 19 January) Russian Ivan Ukhov cleared a world-leading 2.36 m to highlight the opening leg of the 4th Moravian High Jump Tour. With his third-attempt clearance, the 21-year-old Russian indoor record holder added a centimetre to his own 2008 best and bettered Jaroslav Baba's record of 2.35 (set in 2005). Sweden's Linus Thörnblad was second at 2.34, and Russian Aleksei Dmitrik was third at 2.30.

Trinec: (Monday 21 January) Linus Thornblad won at 2.30, while Russians Ivan Ukhov and Andrey Tereshin both cleared 2.26, with Ukhov taking second based on fewer misses. In the Women's competition, Czech jumpers Barora Lalkova (1.97) and Romana Dubnova (1.90) finished first and second, with Russian Viktoriya Klyugina also in a tie for second at 1.90.

5th Moravia High Jump Tour 2009
The 5th annual Moravia High Jump Tour was held at Trinec on Wednesday 21 January 2011, and at Hustopece on Saturday 24 January.

Trinec: Ivan Ukhov won the Men's event with a jump of 2.33. Teammate Andrei Tereshin finished second at 2.30.

Hustopece:  Russian Ivan Ukhov bettered his season-best by 1 centimeter, clearing  to win at Hustopece. Aleksandr Shuskov finished second at 2.27.

6th Moravia High Jump Tour 2010
Hustopece: The Senior Men's competition during the first leg at Hustopece on Saturday 23 January 2010 had 12 competitors and was won by Russian Ivan Ukhov, who defended his 2009 title and broke his meet record with a jump of . Ukhov began the competition with a "warm-up" jump of 2.20, continued at 2.28, 2.30 and 2.32 with first attempt clearances. He then cleared 2.37 and then made three attempts at 2.41, coming extremely close on his first. American Dusty Jonas finished second, with a third attempt clearance of 2.30 (7 ft 6 1/2 in).

Trinec: On Tuesday 26 January, at Trinec, the results were repeated, as Ukhov won again, with a jump of 7 ft 8 inches, and Dusty Jonas was runner-up with a third-attempt clearance of 7 ft 7 1/4 inches.

7th Moravia High Jump Tour 2011
The 2011 competitions were held 26 January in Trinec, and Saturday 29 January at Hustopece.

At the first meeting in Trinec, the Junior Women's competition was won by Russian Mariya Kuchina, who established a new indoor Junior record of , breaking the record of 1.96 established by Bulgaria's Desislava Aleksandrova at the 1994 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Paris. Kuchina, who turned 18 just two weeks earlier, entered the competition with personal bests of 1.90 indoors and 1.91 outdoors. She shattered those with a second-attempt clearance of 1.92 to win the event, then flew over 1.94 on her first attempt, and clearing 1.97 on her second jump.

Trinec: The Men's competition was won by Russian Aleksandr Shustov, with a jump of "only" 2.29m: he had three close misses at 2.31. (Ukhov did not compete in Trinec.)

Hustopece: Russian Ivan Ukhov won in Hustopece for the third year in a row, and again broke his meet record with a world-leading jump of 2.38. After passing at 2.41, he had the bar raised to world indoor - and Europe -a record of 2.44 (8 feet). His first two attempts were extremely close, brushing the bar off on his way down on the second attempt. The victory and record attempts were all the more special because it was witnessed by world record-holder Javier Sotomayor (that year's special guest).

8th Moravia High Jump Tour 2012
The 2012 competitions were held Saturday 28 January at Hustopece, and Monday 30 January in Trinec.

At the first meeting in Hustopece, five men jumped 2.31 (7'-7"), but only Aleksey Dmitrik (Russia) cleared 2.35 (7'-8.5") for the win and the early lead for the highest jump in 2012, to date. For Dmitrik, he was perfect through 2.31, then required 2 tries to clear 2.33 (while the rest of the field passed), then established a new personal best indoors with his third try clearance at 2.35. He then had the bar raised to a Russian record of 2.41, coming very close on his final try, as a third-place finisher and Russian record-holder (2.40) Ivan Ukhov watched: video replay shows Dmitrik got his hips cleanly over the bar, but his heels barely clipped the bar on the way down. Russia's Andrey Silnov finished second. Possibly the biggest surprise was the 2.31 by Great Britain's Samson Oni, tying his personal best indoors and good enough to tie for 3rd with Ukhov. Of note, the top American men jumpers did not compete in the 2012 tour, remaining in the U.S. to participate in the (first) U.S. Open invitational track meet at New York's Madison Square Garden on 28 January 2012.

In the Women's event, Russian Svetlana Shkolina was the only female to clear 1.95 (6'-4.75"), while three others cleared 1.93 (6'-4"), including Chanute Howard Lowe of the United States. Mariya Kuchina, also of Russia and who set a world junior indoor record of 1.97 on the Moravian Tour in 2011, was fourth, also at 1.93.

The second competition was held on Monday 30 January in Trinec. With only one day off (not the customary two days), the Men's winning height was lower than at Hustopece. Russian Ivan Ukhov out-jumped the field and was flawless through the winning height of 2.32, then missed all 3 attempts at a (world-leading) 2.36. Trevor Barry (Bahamas) was second at 2.29, veteran Jaroslav Baba (Czech Republic) was third at 2.25, while Aleksey Dmitrik (Russia) the winner of the first leg at Hustopece was fourth at Trinec with a jump of only 2.25.

The Women's competition at Trinec improved over Hustopece: 1st for Mariya Kuchina (Russia) with her first try clearance of 1.96; 2nd to Svetlana Shkolina (Russia) also at 1.96, but on her 3rd attempt; 3rd to Esthera Petre (Romania) at 1.93; 4th for Irina Gordeyeva (Russia) at 1.90; and 5th place for Chaunté Lowe (USA) at 1.90 meters. The 19-year-old Kuchina, the 2011 European Athletics Junior Championships gold medalist, cleared a season's best of 1.96 with her first attempt and then tried to break her own World Indoor Junior record with three close attempts at 1.98m. Kuchina set the Junior indoor record in 2011 at 1.97 meters.

Related links
 Europa SC High Jump indoor competition held in Banka Bystrica, Slovak Republic in early February

9th Moravia High Jump Tour 2013
The first leg was held in Hustopece on 26 January. Ivan Ukhov won the men's section with a clearance of 2.30 m, defeating Mutaz Essa Barshim on count-back. Alessia Trost won the women's high jump with 1.95 m. Trost improved to 2.00 m to win the second leg, held in Trinec on 29 January – a jump which ranked her as the second-best Italian indoor jumper. Ukhov surprisingly failed at 2.20 m in Trinec and Barshim set a world-leading 2.34 m to win the series. Men's runner-up Aleksey Dmitrik had the second-best performance of the tour, clearing 2.31 m for second place.

References

External links
The official Tour website for the Hustopece meeting
The official Tour website for the Trinec meeting
The official Tour website for the Ostrava meeting

Category:Recurring sporting events established in 2005
Category:High jump competitions
Category:Moravia
Category:Athletics competitions in the Czech Republic
Category:Annual athletics series
Category:2005 establishments in the Czech Republic
Category:Indoor track and field competitions
Category:Winter events in the Czech Republic