Stuttgart GER - The fourth edition of the IAAF World Athletics Final takes place in Stuttgart, Germany, on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 September. We continue our Event Category Previews with the JUMPS.

The entry list of the IAAF World Athletics Final (WAF) is decided according to the World Athletics Tour (WAT) Standings. The top 7 athletes with the greatest number of points from their five best results (4 for throws) will qualify for each event of the WAF. For races of 1500m and over, 11 athletes will be qualified.

After the last qualifying meeting, the IAAF Golden League meeting in Berlin (Sunday 3 September), the process began to contact all the athletes concerned to ascertain that they are fit and willing to compete. Not until those answers are received, wild card entries are decided, and the usual technical meeting is held on the day before the World Athletics Final, can the final start list be made available. Consequently, our previews are as accurate as possible before that time.

Click here for the final World Athletics Tour Standings 2006

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High Jump

This year’s revelation is 21-year-old Andrey Silnov of Russia, who took the European title with a 2.36 leap and followed up with a world leading 2.37 in Monaco just over a week later. In Gothenburg, he came tantalizingly close with his first attempt at 2.41, a height only four others have ever cleared. If he’s in similar form, he’ll be difficult to beat.

Olympic champion Stefan Holm hasn’t produced a victory since late July when he notched a season’s best 2.34, but ever the fierce competitor, the scrappy Swede will be in the hunt, hoping to duplicate his 2004 victory.

Nine others have topped 2.32 or better this season, including Gothenburg runner-up Tomas Janku (2.34) of the Czech Republic, Swede Linus Thornblad (2.34), Americans Tora Harris (2.33) and Jesse Williams (2.32), and Russian Yaroslav Rybakov (2.32).

Pole Vault

Commonwealth Champion Steve Hooker and Rome winner Paul Burgess lead a powerful Australian 1-2 punch against the likely German trio of Fabian Schulze, Tim Lobinger and Lars Borgeling.

The winner in Heusden, Helsinki and Berlin, the 24-year-old Hooker raised his personal best to 5.96 in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium last Sunday, and came close to sailing over the six metre barrier as well. Burgess, already a member of the event’s six metre club, has a season’s best of 5.92 from early July, and came close to that in Berlin where he scaled 5.91 to finish second to Hooker.

Lobinger has clearances of 5.90 and 5.85 to his credit this summer, Stuttgart native Schulze has leaped 5.81 and Borgeling 5.80, collectively mounting a fine home turf defence in Stuttgart.

Among the most consistent vaulters this year however has been World Indoor champion Brad Walker of the U.S., who became the latest member of the six metre fraternity in July. He notched three successive victories in August - Zurich, Birmingham and Rieti - bringing solid momentum to his WAF title defence.

Others in the mix include American Toby Stevenson, who has three wins to his credit this summer and a season’s best 5.81, and Japanese record holder Daichi Sawano.

Long Jump

Over the past few years, World and Olympic champion Dwight Phillips has said that he welcomed all challengers to his dominance of the Long Jump in recent years. This year he got his wish, with pursuers emerging from virtually every corner of the globe.

Panama’s world leader (8.56) Irving Saladino leads the South American assault. The year’s dominant force, the co-winner of the Golden League Jackpot has produced seven of the year’s nine farthest jumps, and has lost just once since claiming the silver medal at the World Indoor championships in March.

Ignisious Gaisah of Ghana, the winner of each major title available to him this year – World Indoor, Commonwealth, African – leads the charge from Africa. His 8.43 in Rome extended his own national record, and in Paris he became the only jumper this year to defeat Saladino.

Leading the Asian challenge is Mohamed Salman Al-Khuwalidi of Saudi Arabia, who has an 8.48 area record to his credit this season, along with solid second and third place showings in Zurich and Brussels.

Phillips, the defending WAF champion, hasn’t produced a victory since 13 May, and has a season’s best of just 8.32. But after a three week break to rest a sore hamstring, he’s expected to be sharp in Stuttgart.

Triple Jump

The Triple Jump is a wide open affair, with any of half a dozen jumpers in the mix for the top honours.

World lead Walter Davis, the reigning World champion indoors and outdoors, has competed sparingly since his career best 17.71 leap at the U.S. championships. His most recent outing was in Stockholm in late July, where he finished second with a 17.32 leap.

Cuba’s Yoandri Betanzos, the defending champion, reached 17.63 at home in February, prior to his bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships in March. Over the summer, he reached 17.46 to win the Central American and Caribbean Games title and followed up with a runner-up finish in Monaco.

Brazil’s Jadel Gregorio has a season’s best 17.54 to his credit, and has collected seven victories outdoors to lead the World Athletics Tour standings.

Marian Oprea of Romania, the European Championships bronze medallists, has pieced together a solid campaign, and with victories in three of his last four competitions, including his 17.56 season’s best in Padova, has the best momentum of anyone in the field.

WOMEN

High Jump

Among the most fiercely contested disciplines this year has been the women’s High Jump, and the ongoing battle is expected to be among the key highlights in Stuttgart.

This year’s major revelation has been Belgian Tia Hellebaut. After deciding to focus her attentions solely on the High Jump, the former heptathlete has spent much of the summer rewriting the Belgian record books and more recently, dispensing with her opposition. Her slew of national records began in Gotzis with a 1.97 leap, one she raised or equalled in four subsequent competitions, topped by her surprise 2.03 clearance to claim the European title. Still riding high, the 28-year-old followed up with wins in Brussels and Berlin.

Sweden’s World champion Kajsa Bergqvist has produced another stellar season, yet has been beaten in half of her sixteen competitions. The world leader after her 2.05 leap in London, she took third in Gothenburg, and second in Zurich, Zagreb and Berlin.

Bulgaria’s Venelina Veneva followed up her Gothenburg silver with a season’s best 2.04 clearance to win in Zurich and notched her fifth two metre clearance of the summer to win in Rieti.

Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic, who left Gothenburg without a medal despite having cleared 2.01, has a 2.03 best to her credit this season, along with wins in Oslo, Rome and Zagreb, the latter again at 2.01.

In April, American Chaunte Howard, the reigning World Championships silver medallist, became the season’s first two metre jumper, and improved to a career best 2.01 to take the national title. But she hasn’t competed since Rome, where she couldn’t manage more than 1.94.

Pole Vault

If Yelena Isinbayeva has proven anything this year, it’s that she can’t necessarily raise her own World record at will. Such are the downfalls when total domination of an event becomes synonymous with one’s name. Still adjusting to technical changes this year, the Russian even suffered a rare defeat, finishing second in Stockholm on the countback to Poland’s Monica Pyrek. Yet Isinbayeva has produced the year’s five best clearances, topped by her 4.91 in London, and is the clear favourite to repeat her win from a year ago.

With Isinbayeva the clear No. 1, Pyrek has produced the goods to be the clear No. 2. Only once has she finished lower than second in a competition this year, while improving her personal best to 4.75.

Making a big leap forward this year was Brazilian Fabiana Murer. In Monaco, she secured the win with a 4.66 South American record, and matched that five days later in Brussels where she finished second to Isinbayeva.

Jen Stuczynski appears well on her way of assuming the mantle as the top American in the event. After taking the U.S. title in June, the 24-year-old produced a pair of 4.65 clearances and improved to 4.66 in Birmingham.

Germany’s 20-year-old Silke Spiegelburg, who was sixth at the European Championships before improving her personal best to 4.56 in Monaco, is the Wild Card entrant.

Long Jump

Last year, Tatyana Lebedeva attempted the Long Jump/Triple Jump double at the WAF, finishing fifth in the former and taking second in the latter. And this year she’s likely to try her luck at the double again.

In the Long Jump, where she reigns as Olympic champion, she’s produced a pair of wind-assisted leaps beyond seven metres, with those backed up by 6.97, 6.95 and 9.94 leaps, the latter in her most recent competition at the U.S. – Russia match in Moscow last week.

Her chief competition looks to be her compatriot Oksana Udmurtova, the European Championships bronze medallist who began the outdoor season with a personal best 7.02 leap to win in Doha.

Others in the hunt include Australia's Bronwyn Thompson, who achieved her season's best of 6.97 to win the Commonwealth title in March. She nearly duplicated that form in three July competitions, reaching 6.88, 6.80 and 6.95. American Rose Richmond won the U.S. title with a wind-assisted 6.93 leap, but also reached a personal best 6.84 in Indianapolis.

Triple Jump

In the Triple Jump, Lebedeva has again reigned supreme. With five of the season’s eight jumps beyond 15 metres and unbeaten in six competitions, the Russian is the woman to beat.

Looking for another upset will be Greek Hrysopiya Devetzi, who nearly had the better of the Russian at the European Championships until Lebedeva snatched the victory with her final jump. Nonetheless, Greece’s Olympic silver medallist reached a season’s best 15.05 in Gothenburg and seems again the most likely challenger.

Jamaican Trecia Smith, who took the World title last year in Lebedeva’s absence, also has a 15.05 season’s best to her credit this season along with the Commonwealth title.

Lebedeva’s compatriot Anna Pyatykh was third in Gothenburg, where her 15.02 was her first career leap beyond 15 metres. She followed up with wins in Linz and Rieti to arrive in Suttgart as a solid podium threat.