09 Sep 2014
After Mutaz Essa Barshim, graduate of Aspire Academy, cleared 2.43m at the end of the 2014 Diamond League series on Friday night in Brussels it looks only a matter of time before Javier Sotomayor’s world record of 2.45m is going to fall. It nearly happened as Mutaz Essa Barshim and Bohdan Bondarenko had five attempts at 2.46m.
Ultimately, Barshim settled for 2.43m – a height only the Cuban world record holder Sotomayor has beaten so far – to win the contest as world champion Bondarenko cleared 2.40m before clipping the bar at 2.43m and then, twice, at 2.46m. With victory going to the world class athlete from Qatar, the contest surpassed the Diamond League clash in New York last June when both men cleared 2.42m before failed attempts at a 2.46m world record height.