Ivan Ukhov sports discipline competed in high jump
Ivan Sergeyevich Ukhov (Russian: Иван Сергеевич Ухов; born 29 March 1986) is a Russian high jumper. He won a gold medal at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships and is a two-time European Indoor champion (2009 and 2011). He was also the silver medallist at the 2010 European Athletics Championships and the winner of the high jump at the inaugural 2010 IAAF Diamond League. In the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, he won the gold medal, but it was later stripped for a doping violation.Ukhov has broken the Russian national record indoors four times: jumping 2.39 meters on 28 January 2007 in Moscow; besting that with a 2.40 m jump on 25 February 2009 in Athens. His best outdoor effort, 2.39 m, was set in Cheboksary on 5 July 2012. His leap of 2.40m (7 feet 10 1/2 inches) in 2009 made him the 11th man in history to jump 2.40 or better, and only four of those men have jumped higher (indoors and out); only three men have jumped higher indoors (Patrik Sjöberg, 2.41 in 1987; Carlo Thränhardt, 2.42 in 1988, and Javier Sotomayor, 2.43 in 1993).Career
Early career
Ukhov gave an interview for an IAAF news report in May 2013, while "training" with a Moscow-area basketball team. In between dunks, he said, "I played basketball for about 10 years, between the ages of seven and 16 for my school team. I became the best player in my town and region." Previously, in a July 2010 interview for BBC News, Ukhov – whom friends call Vanya – said his love of sports began at age 7 when his mother enrolled him in basketball: "After nine years of playing it I quarrelled with my coach and decided to take up a different, individual sport. I was quite big and chose discus, then at the age of 17 I tried the high jump. After training for about a year I set the Russian junior record and decided that it would be easier to carry on jumping than discus", he said. In a May 2014 interview Ukhov further elaborated that, in his first year of throwing the discus he did well enough to compete at the Russian Junior Championships in 2004. At that meet he (somehow) entered the High Jump and with no coaching he won by clearing 2.12 meters (6 feet, 11½ inches). Ukhov immediately dropped the discus and began to learn proper high jump mechanics, he established a personal best of 2.15m on 28 June 2004. One year later he improved to 2.30 (on 4 July 2005) at a meet in Tula, Russia, and he won the European Junior Championship in 2005 with a leap of 2.23/7-3¾. He represented Russia at the 2004 IAAF World Junior Championships in Grosseto, Italy, but failed to qualify amongst the top 12 jumpers on 13 July, and did not make the finals.
He won the gold medal at the 2005 European Athletics Junior Championships (age 19 and under), held in Kaunas. He was the only competitor to clear 2.23 m, and said afterwards "I feel a bit confused. I still can not believe that I am a winner."2006
Ukhov's performances in 2006 confirmed that he was better indoors than outside. On Monday 16 January 2006, jumping in the first leg of the Moravia High Jump Tour in Trinec, he won the competition with a first attempt clearance of 2.28, and was the only competitor who was really close at 2.30. He achieved a personal best outdoor jump of 2.33 meters, in Langen, Germany (on 25 June 2006), and was named to the Russian team for the 19th European Athletics Championships held in Goteborg, Sweden in early August. He qualified for the 12-man Finals with a jump of 2.23, but two days later, 9 August 2006, he could manage no better than 2.20 for equal last place.2007
The 20-year-old Ukhov won all three of the meets he entered in January 2007, with heights of 2.30 or better. At the annual Russian Winter Cup meet in Moscow, held on 28 January 2007 at the Vladimir Kutz Arena, the 20-year-old Ukhov elevated his personal best by 6 cm, jumping 2.39 to set a new Russian national record in the High Jump. Ukhov broke the record of 2.38, set in Sweden by Yaroslav Rybakov in February 2005. Ukhov was pushed to the record in a tactical duel with (reigning World Indoor champion) Rybakov. After each cleared 2.31, Rybakov took the lead with a first try clearance at 2.35. Ukhov failed in his first attempt and, with second-place already assured, he elected to pass. With the bar raised to 2.37, Ukhov flew over the bar on his first attempt, while Rybakov failed and decided to use his two remaining jumps at 2.39, one centimetre higher than his record of 2.38. Rybakov did not succeed, but Ukhov once again thrilled the Moscow crowd with a first-try clearance, and then failed at 2.41. The 2.39 effort ranked him tied for sixth place among the top indoor high jumpers of all time. One week later, at the Arnstadt, Germany meet on 3 February 2007, Rybakov would win, tying his personal best of 2.38, while Ukhov finished fourth at 2.31.2010
Ukhov began his 2010 indoor season at the 6th Moravia High Jump Tour, winning both competitions: first at the meeting in Hustopece, Czech Republic on 23 January, he set a meet record of 2.37 metres (7 ft 9.31 in) (which would be the best jump in the world indoors or out in 2010); then he won the second leg on 27 January in Triniste with a leap of 2.34 m.At the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in March he claimed his first world title with a jump of 2.36 m, beating national rival Yaroslav Rybakov in the process. One of the finest high jump competitions of the year was at Lausanne, Switzerland on 8 July 2010, when 11 men were still in competition at 2.30m. Only four cleared it, with Ukhov going to defeat Rybakov – on misses – at 2.33, with a superb first attempt clearance at 2.33. Ukhov won again at Monaco, on 22 July, with a world-leading 2.34m. At Monaco, four jumpers attempted 2.31, but only Ukhov made it (on his first attempt), and then 2.34 on his first effort, before failing three times at 2.36.
One week later he competed at the 2010 European Athletics Championships, in Barcelona, Spain. The Men's Final was held 29 July, and this time he ended up behind a fellow Russian, as Aleksandr Shustov took gold at 2.33 and Ukhov was the silver medallist – his first European outdoor medal – with a jump of 2.31m.
At London, on 14 August 2010, in conditions described as "wet and chilly", Ukhov won again, out-jumping his competitors with a second-effort clearance at 2.29m, as second- and third-place tied at 2.27m. Ukhov again outjumped the field at the Weltklasse meet in Zurich on 19 August, with another first-try clearance at 2.29, then trying 2.35 without success. The win in Zurich ensured that he finished the top of the rankings in the High Jump series at the inaugural 2010 IAAF Diamond League.
Ukhov entered a total of 20 competitions in 2010 – indoors and out – and won 14 of them. He jumped an outdoor best of 2.36 m at the 5th annual Opole jumping festival in Opole, Poland on 11 September, a mark which was the best by any athlete in 2010. Ukhov's jump was all the more remarkable given that second place was 2.26, while he went on to clear 2.30 and 2.33 on his first jumps, then made 2.36 on his third, followed by three misses at 2.41.2011
The Moravia High Jump Tour on 29 January saw him start the 2011 indoor season in strong form, opening – as he usually does – at 2.20 and progressing to eventually clear 2.38 m (7 ft 9 1/2 in) on his second try, and then came close in an attempt to break Javier Sotomayor's world indoor mark of 2.43. With Sotomayor standing behind him watching, Ukhov first two attempts at 2.44 (8 ft) were excellent, accelerating through his 11-step approach and getting his hips over cleanly before the back of his thighs brushed the bar on the way down, barely bouncing the bar off. On 3 February, he won the Moscow High Jump with Music Cup for the fourth time in his career, with a jump of 2.30, outjumping four other Russian competitors who could manage no higher than 2.27. He repeated his 2.38 performance on 9 February at the Europa SC High Jump meeting in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia. He cleared every height on his first attempt through 2.38, then again had the bar set at 2.44 (8 feet). Ukhov's attempts at the would-be world (indoor) record height were said to be even closer than his previous efforts two weeks earlier in Hustopece. Uhkov skipped the 2011 Russian Indoor Championships (held in Moscow on 16–18 February), in order to compete in the special Hochsprung mit Musik competition in Arnstadt, Germany, on 19 February, which he won with a jump of 2.34 (three cm better than second-place).At the European Indoor Championships in Paris, Ukhov held off Czech Jaroslav Bába to win the gold medal on Saturday 5 March 2011, equalling his season-best, and world-leading, jump of 2.38 metres (7 ft 9.70 in). The 24-year-old was tied with Baba at 2.34 after each cleared on their first attempt, while fellow Russian Aleksandr Shustov secured the bronze medal with his third attempt clearance at 2.34. Ukhov then cleared 2.36 on his first jump and Baba, after missing, passed to 2.38. Once again Ukhov delivered a first jump clearance, while Baba missed and decided to make his third attempt at 2.40 m (7 feet 10 1/2 inches). Baba missed and Ukhov, having secured the victory with eight jumps, passed at 2.40 (the meet record) and instead had the bar raised to a new European – and world indoor – record 2.44 (8 feet). But he failed on all three attempts.Uhkov opened his international outdoor competition in the Czech Republic at the 50th Golden Spike Ostrava meet on 31 May, which he won (on a tie-breaker) with a height of 2.32 (7' 7 1/4"). He was tied with German Raul Spank after each opened at 2.15 and then jumped "clean" with no misses through 2.32, breaking the meet record of 2.31. After both missed all three tries at 2.36 the tie-breaker was implemented: each was given a fourth attempt at 2.36, then the bar was lowered to 2.34 and then returned to 2.32, which only Ukhov was able to clear a second time for the win.
The fourth Diamond League competition of the year, the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon on Saturday 4 June brought together an elite 8-man field of the world's best jumpers. Ukhov was only able to clear only 2.29 for sixth place – his first loss of the year – while three men cleared 2.32: (current world-leader) Jesse Williams (USA), (reigning Olympic champion) Andrey Silnov (Russia), and the winner Raúl Spank (Germany). He qualified for the final at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, but having taken three attempts to clear 2.32 m and a failure at 2.35 m he finished fifth on count-back.2013 Indoor season
Ukhov's best indoors was also one of his earliest competitions, winning the high jump-only competition at Hustopece on 26 January 2013 with a first attempt clearance of 2.30m, edging out Mutaz Essa Barshim who needed all 3 attempts to clear the same height.
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