11 Jun 2016
Opole, 11 June 2016. Qatari high jumper and Aspire Academy graduate Mutaz Essa Barshim proved he is back to his brilliant best by clearing a world-leading 2.40m in Opole, Poland on Saturday, giving the Qatari a comfortable win at the festival of jumping.
Last weekend the 24-year-old returned to the top level in Birmingham, soaring over 2.37m to catapult himself to the head of the world rankings. That was a position he consolidated in Opole, the ninth competition in Barshim's career that he has cleared 2.40m or better.
During his clearance at 2.40m, Barshim gave the bar the slightest brush with his legs, but in truth it never looked like falling, and the Qatari soon rose to his feet in celebration, along with the few hundred high jump fans in attendance.
Given his performance, Barshim unsurprisingly had little in the way of challengers on Saturday, with Poland's Wojciech Theiner finishing a distant second with 2.23m, beating Czech Republic's Jaroslav Baba, who also cleared 2.23m, on countback.
Source: www.iaaf.org