Photos: \u00a9 Gladys Chai von der Laage<\/p>\n
World and European high jump champion Bogdan Bondarenko will be up against his arch rival Mutaz Essa Barshim on Friday night, and they are the only two men left in the Diamond Race in their event.<\/p>\n
Having taken 10 attempts at the world record height of 2.46m this season, the Ukrainian isn\u2019t setting himself any lofty targets for Friday\u2019s competition. He simply hopes that the conditions are good.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was at my best this year at the European Championships in Zurich, but the competition was held in cold and rainy conditions,\u201d said Bondarenko, who turned 25 last week. \u201cThat was very disappointing and it took a lot of energy out of me. I don\u2019t want to make any predictions for Friday; I just hope that the weather and the conditions will be fine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe world record is obviously a goal and I had many occasions this year to break it. The high jump is a balance between physical abilities and technique. When I was jumping at world record heights this year, the adrenaline pushed me so hard physically that I couldn\u2019t get my technique right. That is something to work on.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeating the world record means that I want to jump 2.46m, not just equal the record at 2.45m. This year my bars were raised to 2.46m in New York and in Marrakesh. In New York I felt very strong, but in Marrakesh the horrible winds were too disturbing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you try these kinds of heights it feels good the first three or four times,\u201d he added. \u201cAfter 20 times, you start wondering \u2018why am I trying this?\u2019 and you must be careful not to get scared of jumping that high.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw the video of that jump on YouTube in 2006 when I was starting out in the high jump. As a Ukrainian kid, my big idol was Sergey Bubka of course. I also tried the pole vault but I didn\u2019t have natural gymnastic ability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Renaud Lavillenie, on the other hand, is someone who has bags of natural pole vaulting ability. The Frenchman recently surrendered his winning streak after failing to clear a height in Stockholm, but he has already done enough this season to secure an unprecedented fifth Diamond Race title.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m optimistic for tomorrow,\u201d said the world record-holder. \u201cThe conditions are supposed to be favourable. My aim is to go over six metres. I just want to enjoy myself and give everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked whether things had changed since breaking the world record, Lavillenie said that the only difference now was in the expectations of others.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople\u2019s attitude has changed enormously,\u201d he said. \u201cNow, people don\u2019t care about six metres. They want the world record \u2013 or, for my French fans, even higher \u2013 every time I compete.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lavillenie is currently one of just seven athletes to hold a world record in an event in which they are a reigning Olympic champion. He says that, for him, the Olympic title is more important.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Olympic title is much, much bigger than the world record,\u201d he said. \u201cI have the record, but it can be broken at any moment, while not everybody can get an Olympic title. I had about five attempts at breaking the world record; you don\u2019t get five attempts at winning an Olympic title.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike Bondarenko and Lavillenie, Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad isn\u2019t in contention to win the Diamond Race as this will be his first appearance in a steeplechase in the 2014 IAAF Diamond League, and Kenya\u2019s Jairus Birech already has an unassailable lead in the Diamond Race.<\/p>\n
Instead, Mekhissi-Benabbad simply wants to break up the Kenyan dominance of the event by challenging Birech for the victory tomorrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cTomorrow\u2019s field looks like an Olympic final,\u201d said Mekhissi-Benabbad. \u201cIt\u2019s probably even better, because in an Olympic final you\u2019d have a maximum of three Kenyans, whereas there is more than that in tomorrow\u2019s race.<\/p>\n
\u201cBirech is there, and he has been almost unbeatable this season. It will be the first time this year we have raced against each other,\u201d added Mekhissi-Benabbad, whose career head-to-head record against Birech is currently tied at two apiece. \u201cI\u2019m not going to put pressure on myself; I\u2019ll just see how the race goes and will then try to beat him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the IAAF Diamond League began in 2010, only one men\u2019s 3000m steeplechase race hasn\u2019t been won by a Kenyan. Mekhissi-Benabbad was the victor on that occasion, winning in Paris three years ago.<\/p>\n
Another win tomorrow, he says, will be a huge boost ahead of next year\u2019s IAAF World Championships and the 2016 Olympics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe steeplechase is a very tough race,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy to compete against the strength of the Kenyans. They have won every world and Olympic gold medal for the past 20 or 30 years. If I can break that dominance, I can be a legend of the sport. That\u2019s why I put myself through all this tough training.<\/p>\n
\u201cWinning tomorrow\u2019s race will put me in a psychologically strong position ahead of next year\u2019s World Champs, because the field is like an Olympic final.\u201d<\/p>\n
While it has been one of his career goals to run faster than eight minutes, Mekhissi-Benabbad is unsure whether it will happen tomorrow as it is dependent on so many factors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve come close to it before and I know I have the ability to do it,\u201d say the 29-year-old, who holds the European record of 8:00.09. \u201cI know I can do it, and if the occasion presents itself to do it, of course I will go for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cTomorrow, it will depend on the weather and the pacemakers and the way my competitors will run. There are a lot of things that can influence the race.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like Bondarenko and Lavillenie, Mekhissi-Benabbad will represent Europe at the IAAF Continental Cup later this month. He will contest the 1500m, the event in which he won gold at the European Championships, having been disqualified from the steeplechase after taking his best off in celebration before crossing the finish line.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was happy that in the 1500m I could show that I\u2019m a great athlete. It took a lot of mental strength to come back and win it,\u201d he said. \u201cEmotionally it was a heavy championship for me, but I\u2019ve recovered well and I have some very good training sessions behind me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe steeplechase is a much tougher event than the 1500m,\u201d he added. \u201cIn the past, the programme at major championships have never allowed for a 1500m and steeplechase double. Zurich was the first time I was able to combine both. I have always liked both events, but my main goal for the next World Championships and Olympics is to win the steeplechase. After that, then I might focus on the 1500m.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF and the IAAF Diamond League<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Three of the gold medallists from the recent European Championships spoke to the press ahead of...","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"city":[],"class_list":["post-373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373"},{"taxonomy":"city","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/city?post=373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}