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A square-off between Bulgaria's Venelina Veneva and Croatia's Blanka Vlasic is on tap as the Moravian Daylong Tour high jump series begins in Hustopece, Czech Republic, on Saturday, Jan. 20.
Veneva, the Bulgarian veteran, will be looking to continue her momentum from the latter half of the 2006 season, when she took the silver medal at the European Championships in Gothenburg before following up with a win at August’s Weltklasse Golden League meeting in Zurich. Vlasic, the world indoor silver medallist with a career best of 2.05 and a medal favorite at last summer's European championships, left the deep Gothenburg competition disappointed after finishing fourth with a 2.01 leap, the highest non-medal winning jump ever at a European, World or Olympic competition. Veneva and Vlasic will be gunning for the 1.95 meeting record.
The three-stop tour, which continues in Ostrava on Jan. 23 and Trinec on Jan. 25, has again attracted several of the world's top high jumpers, building on the strength of a strong domestic men's squad. World Cup champion Tomas Janku, Olympic bronze medallist Jaroslav Baba, and Olympic and European finalist Svatoslav Ton are all slated to compete in the three competitions, each of which will be broadcast by Czech Television.
Key challengers to Czech trio include Russian Andrey Tereshin, the silver medallist at last year's World Indoor Championships, who will contest the initial two legs of the tour.
The competition in Ostrava, Baba's hometown, will include Ukraine's Yuriy Krymarekno, the surprise winner at the 2005 World Championships. Krymarenko's first major career outing came at this competition earlier that year, where he reached a then-personal best of 2.27. On the rebound from injuries that slowed his 2006 season, Krymarenko will be targeting a 2.30 leap.
In Trinec, the women's event will feature reigning European indoor champion Anna Chicherova of Russia, who opened her 2007 season last weekend in Yekaterinburg with a 1.96 leap.
Others joining the fray will be Sweden's Emma Green, a surprise medallist at the 2005 world championships, who will compete in both Ostrava and Trinec. Czech national record holder Barbora Lalakova, 2000 OlymPic bronze medallist Oana Pantelimon and 2006 Asian Games champion Marina Aitova are also on the slate of at least two of the competitions.
Daylong, the new title sponsor of the tour, is a product produced by Swiss pharmaceutical company Spirig Pharma AG.
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