Aleksei Grigorevich Stakanov, a Labour hero, who was awarded with the Order of the Red Banner, never took rest and urged his working colleagues to do the same. On 31st May 1935 he mined a still unbeaten record of coal in Donbass in the Ukraine.
Mariya Kuchina-Lasitskene is emulating the valiant miner. She competes very often combining flight connections or perhaps using the space-time displacement. The regular attendance at many meetings, which was allowed with the authorization to return to the Great Athletics Family, guaranteed her the supremacy at world level. Only Stefka Kostadinova and Blanka Vlasic collected more jumps over the 2 metres than Lasitskene, whose bank account starts to be considerable.
One year ago on the eve of the Golden Gala meeting Mariya was moved and made everyone moved, when she looked back at the long months she had to get through during the ban imposed on the Russian Athletics Federation. The exclusion from the Rio Olympic Games made her angry, and she was deeply sad to miss the European Championships. The 25-year-old jumper from the Caucasic Republic of Kabardino Balkaria has not been only an Authorised Neutral Athlete since she represented ANA, but she has also been absolutely unbeatable.
Only the Ukrainian jumper Yulia Levchenko, who turned 20 six months ago, was able to give her some temporary shivers. In the decisive stages of the world championships final Mariya missed one attempt at 1.99m, which both Pole Kamila Lichwinko and Yuliya Levchenko were able to clear at the first time of asking. Yuliya seeems to have come out from the pages of Lolita, a masterpiece written by Vladimir Nabokov. Mariya bounced back and kept pace with the beautiful girl from Kiev at 2.01. The Ukrainian athlete deserved a big exclamation mark, when she improved her personal best by 4 cm. Mariya clinched her second world title by jumping 2.03m and made three unsuccessful attempts at the Russian record of 2.08m. The world title, the winning streak and the 19 jumps over the 2 metres barrier made her one of the candidates for the IAAF Athlete of the Year Award, but it seems that those, who compete without flag, has not the right to win this crown.
During the winter season she jumped over the 2 metres barrier seven times and won the world indoor title. During the outdoor season Mariya the Stakanovite has slowed down her work rhythm and settled with just a jump over 1.97m. In those rainy conditions it is granted to speak about wet wings.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xGLnQ7SKuZA" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The chronology of her jumps at 2 metres or higher:
2,01i Stockolm 6/2/2014
2.00i Sopot 8/3/2014 WCi
2,00 Paris 5/7/2014
2,00 Zurich 28/8/2014
2,00 Montecarlo 17/7/2015
2,01 Beijing 29/8/2015 WC
2,00 Zagreb 8/9/2015
2,01 Brussels 11/9/2015
2,00 Moscow 21/7/2016
2,00i Moscow 18/1/2017
2,03i Moscow 21/2/2017
2,03 Eugene 27/5/2017
2,00 Opole 4/6/2017
2,00 Rome 8/6/2017
2,00 Hengelo 11/6/2017
2,04 Hengelo 11/6/2017 (tre tentativi a 2,10)
2,00 Stockolm 18/6/2017
2,00 Zhukowski 24/6/2017
2,01 Lausanne6/7/2017
2,06 Lausaane 6/7/2017 (three attempts a 2,10)
2,00 London 9/7/2017 (two attempts a 2,08)
2,01 Yerino 14/7/2017
2,00 Padua 16/7/2017
2,00 Montecarlo 21/7/2017
2,05 Montecarlo 21/7/2017 (three attempts at 2,08)
2,01 London 12/8/2017 WC
2,03 London 12/8/2017 (three attempts at 2,08) WC
2,02 Brussels 1/9/2017 (three attempts at 2,08)
2,00i Minsk 23/12/2017
2,01i Moscow 17/1/2018
2,04i Volgograd 27/1/2018
2,02i Banska Bystrica 6/2/2018
2,00i Madrid 8/2/2018
2,00i Torun 15/2/2018
2,01i Birmingham 1/3/2018 WCi
38 performances over 2 metres with 4 ancillary jumps
FOLLOW US ON: Facebook - <link https: www.instagram.com goldengala_roma _blank>Instagram @goldengala_roma - Twitter @goldengala_roma
