The Russians, since the days of the former Soviet Union, have always produced top caliber jumpers. Yuliya is amongst the new generation of the Russian jumping tradition. The graceful athlete has personal bests of 6.84m outdoors and 6.75m indoors.
Pidluzhnaya at European Indoors (Photo from Yuliya)
She has reached the podium of several major international events, most notably at the fiercely fought 2011 European Indoor Championships long jump final, where she leaped to 6.75m and won the bronze medal behind compatriot Darya Klishina and Portugal’s Naide Gomes. At the 2011 World University Games in Shenzen, Yuliya’s best mark of 6.56m brought home the silver medal.
From 2009 to 2010, Yuliya improved her jumping by an impressive 0.33m. Pidluzhnaya has been ranked as a top tier long jumper ever since.
1.) How did you get started with athletics?
[I] started to be engaged with school [-based athletics at] age 14 years.
2.) What’s the most memorable moment of your athletics career?
I remember [very well] the first time [I competed at a major international championship] of the world. [The experience] [have] not [been] forgotten.
Amongst the major international athletics championships, the World Indoors is the most underrated. Big name stars like Usain Bolt usually opt out of the biennial meet, especially in crucial Olympic years. Indoor athletics has a far smaller reach than its outdoor counterpart, with the smaller venues usually found in the frigid countries of the northern hemisphere.
Photo from Wikipedia
Nevertheless, it has that obscure charm. When I first saw the start lists of some events, I thought that the rest of the non-European, non-American world was underrepresented. I thought wrong. As soon as the 60m dash heats came out, a cacophony of athletes from small countries – from Mongolia in the Gobi desert to Fiji in the Pacific – competed amongst their more illustrious counterparts.
Even if I had to rely on live streaming links and my less-than-perfect internet connection to watch the World Indoors, I must say that I had a grand time. Despite the absence of most of the track & field titans, the festivities were certainly not devoid of memorable athletics moments. The three-day event has seen former World Indoor champions like Elena Isinbayeva Елена Гаджиевна Исинбаева, Justin Gatlin, and Valerie Adams re-emerge on the big stage, whilst playing host to bevy of promising talent.
The United States topped the overall standings with a staggering 18 medals, 10 of which were gold. Great Britain had 9, while African distance powerhouses Ethiopia and Kenya won 5 and 4, respectively.
The following list enumerates my favorite performances from Istanbul (aside from the 60m hurdles, of course!):
It’s not a secret that I’m head over heels about Darya Klishina Дарья Клишина. Who isn’t? She has drop-dead gorgeous looks, a model’s and an athlete’s body and she could leap a friggin’ seven meters! She’s the complete package, for this athletics aficionado.
Unsurprisingly, she’s well-versed with the power clean – a common weight training exercise for the track & field athlete. In the Philippines, knowledge of the aforesaid Olympic lift is a rarity. And I love the cleans, especially when my dream girl, Darya, is the one doing the lifting!
As much as I admire Dafne Schippers’ herculean effort at the European Junior Championships, I believe that Darya Klishina Дарья Клишина should be hailed as the European Athlete of the Month for July 2011.
Pound-per-pound, Klishina’s 7.05m winning leap in Ostrava holds more weight than Schippers’ 6,153 point victory in the junior heptathlon. Darya’s personal best mark is the second-best jump this year.
The Daegu World Athletics Championships is just around the corner. South Korea will play host to the most prestigious gathering track & field athletes after the Olympic Games, the third time for an Asian country to do so.
Sprinter Usain Bolt, in light of his spectacular array of world records, is the undeniable front-act. Other crowd drawers are triple jumper Teddy Tamgho of France (a stress fracture prematurely ended Tamgho’s season, unfortunately), high jumper Blanka Vlasic and javelin thrower Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway. The Kenyan 800m runner David Rudisha, fresh from a slew of world records last season, is on the hunt to rewrite the two-lap mark once more. The sprints, as always, will provide fast-paced action as the rest of the world pits their sprinting might against the dominant Jamaicans and Americans.
Our favorite long jumper, Darya Klishina Дарья Клишина, won the gold medal at the European U23 Championships in Ostrava! The talented Klishina added the Euro U23 crown to her World Youth, European Junior and European Indoor titles.
The Russian made only two valid jumps. She leaped to a new personal best of 7.05m in her very first attempt, sealing the outcome of the competition! Klishina took off a mere 1cm from the plasticine. Darya fouled in the second and fourth rounds, but managed a relatively modest 6.54m and a high quality 6.71m in the third and fourth rounds, respectively. Her European arch-rival, Ivana Spanovic Ивана Шпановић or Serbia, won silver on count-back (6.74m). Klishina and Spanovic also placed 1-2 at the 2009 European Junior Championships.
Thanks to Eurosport, I missed a good one-half of the final day events. But then again, watching an athletics meet on the boob tube (live at that!) is a rarity in the Philippines.
The conditions were a lot harsher than the bright, sunny first day. Winds were blowing as strong as 3.0m/s. The Men’s Pole Vault was even moved to an indoor venue, away from the rain-soaked Olympic Stadium in Stockholm. From the live updates of the EAA site, as well as informative on-the-go Twitter updates, I stayed updated with my favorite events.
Andy Turner makes it a hurdling double for the British, as he took victory in the sprint hurdles in 13.42s. Despite running into a 2.4 m/s headwind, the European champion won by a massive margin over France’s Garfield Darien (13.62s).
The Czech Republic’s Petr Svoboda, who had a fine indoor season, did not take part.
Russia’s Tatyana Dektyareva Татьяна Валерьевна Дектярева took the 100m hurdles over an in-form Alina Talai Алина Талай of Belarus, finalist at the 2011 Paris European indoor championships. The Russian stopped the clock at 13.16s to Talai’s 13.19s. Dektyareva and Talai ran in different heats. The Belorussian took the scalp of American-born British record holder Tiffany Ofili-Porter (13.28s) in the “A” race.
Christophe Lemaitre ran a classy 20.28s despite running into a 2.8 m/s head wind, giving France the full complement of twenty-four points as double sprinting champion.
Emma Green-Tregaro, fresh from beating the great Blanka Vlasic in New York a week earlier, clung on to a narrow 1.89m first place victory in the high jump. Green-Tregaro, struggling in the terrible conditions like the rest of the athletes, failed to clear 1.93m. Ruth Beitia and Irina Gordeyeva Ирина Гордеева finished second and third, respectively, with identical marks of 1.89m, but lost on countback to the in-form Swede.
Ukraine’s Maksym Mazuryk Максим Мазурик took the men’s pole vault, clearing a season’s best of 5.72m to edge out Germany’s Malte Mohr (5.72m) who lost narrowly lost on countback. France’s Renaud Lavillenie, the European indoor champion, languished at a dismal fifth place (5.50m) after missing all three attempt at the winning height.
Russia took both relays, solidifying its grasp on the overall championship. There was some controversy in the women’s 4x100m relay, with the British team getting initially disqualified then reinstated. In the men’s races, the British 4x400m squandered a potential podium finish after a bungled final baton exchange.
Russia scored a massive 385 points over Germany’s 331.5 points. Britain fell to fourth place (289) after the relay fiasco, finishing behind the inspired performance of Ukraine (304).
The victorious Russian team celebrates (Photo from EAA)
In general, the quality of the competition was quite high, as several world-leading marks and championship records were set. Despite the relatively low turnout of spectators, the team spirit was electric. Groups of athletes wearing the same colors were seen bunching together whilst watching the festivities. There was one particularly touching scene where Barbora Špotáková, fresh from competing at the javelin, gave a high five to compatriot Zuzana Hejnová, who had crossed the finish line after winning the 400m low hurdles. The Team Championships is a rare take on mostly individually oriented sport.
The next SPAR European Team Championships will be held in Britain in 2013, as Helsinki holds the European Outdoor Championships next year.
The reigning European indoor champion, Darya Klishina Дарья Клишина of Russia, prevailed over an in-form Carolina Klüft at the 2011 SPAR European Team Championships. Klüft threw the gauntlet early on, leaping to 6.73m in the first round – the best jump of the heptathlon great in years. The young Klishina ably responded with 6.74m in her second attempt.
The conditions weren’t apt for high quality jumping. Klishina managed only 6.40m and 6.57m, fouling her fourth and final attempt. Kluft, the hometown hero, got the red flag on two of her attempts.
With the rainy and windy conditions atrocious for the field events, Darya struggled in her next few attempts. Klüft held on to second place whilst Éloyse Lesueur (6.60m) and a struggling Naide Gomes (6.58m) held on for third and fourth, respectively.
Kluft’s and Klishina’s last jumps are featured on latter parts of the clip above.
Our favorite Russian long jumper won another Diamond League meet, this time in London. The 19-year old leaped to 6.65m, matching compatriot Lyudmila Kolchanova‘s best jump. Darya Klishina won on count back.
Our favorite long-legged Russian long jumper, Darya Klishina makes up for her European Championships absence by unexpectedly winning the Stockholm Diamond League. The 19-year old Russian leaped to 6.78m, beating the Doha World Indoor Champion, Brittney Reese.
After a spectacular 7.03m leap, Darya Klishina fell short in the subsequent meets, the Russian Championships and the Meeting Areva (Paris Diamond League).
The 19-year Russian junior record holder placed fifth with a best jump of 6.73m at the Russian Champs in Saransk. Lyudmila Kolchanova topped the competition with a gargantuan 7.01m despite searing heat.
Most recently, Klishina eked out a fourth place finish in Paris, leaping 6.61m behind Britney Reese (6.79m), Naide Gomes (6.73m) and Cuban World Triple Jump champion, Yargelis Savigne (6.73m).
The volatile American, Reese, overtook Gomes for first with her last jump.
I’ve always expected a classic duel between Reese and Klishina. Despite these setbacks, our new long jump darling (been getting quite a few hits on this blog from Darya Klishina searches!) has posted consistent mid- to high- 6 meter leaps.
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