Ilya Ivanyuk wins Lausanne high jump 'meet on the street' as Olympic champ Tamberi falls short
Ivanyuk claimed the Lausanne Athletissima high jump city event defeating Italian Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Gianmarco Tamberi after Mutaz Essa Barshim had withdrawn.
Athletics
Ilya Ivanyuk claimed the plaudits on the streets of Lausanne, winning the men's high jump Athletissima event with a 2.30m clearance which no-one else could match.
With the win secured, Ivanyuk asked for the bar to be raised to 2.38m, a centimetre higher than the Olympic winning mark of 2.37m which gave Mutaz Essa Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi a gold medal each in Japan.
Clearly fired up, Ivanyuk backflipped after his 2.27 clearance, drawing a roar of approval from the watching fans.
But 2.38 was a little ambitious and he knocked the bar three times. Ivanyuk had finished in ninth place at Tokyo 2020 earlier this month.
Tokyo gold medallist Tamberi finishes fifth
USA scaler Shelby McEwen finished second with a first-time clearance at 2.27 but couldn't join Ivanyuk at 2.30 while Ukrainian Andriy Protsenko was third, also clearing 2.27.
Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Tamberi could only finish in fifth place behind Mexican Edgar Rivera. Tamberi knocked the bar at 2.27, then passed to try and rejoin the competition at 2.30.
Despite getting plenty of support from a vocal Lausanne crowd which was out in force to line the street and overhanging bridge to watch, Tamberi's two attempts at 2.30 were unsuccessful.
It wasn't a great day for Tokyo bronze medallist Maksim Nedasekau either. The Belarusian was the only jumper left behind at the 2.16m mark after failing to clear it on three tries.
Tamberi and Barshim shared the gold medal in Japan in one of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics' most iconic moments, which you can relive in the video below.
See the full results of the event here.
No rematch for gold-medal duo
Barshim and Tamberi were originally set to jump off here in Switzerland for the first time since that incredible day in Tokyo, but only Tamberi took part after Barshim - according to World Athletics - was requested to be the Emir of Qatar's guest of honour at a celebratory function back home.
The high jump event kicked off a few exciting days of athletics, with 19 Olympic champions from Tokyo 2020 slated to compete in this week’s Athletissima, the Lausanne stop of the 2021 Diamond League athletics series.
That happens through Thursday (26 Aug.).
Read a full preview of what's coming up right here.
And you can listen to what Barshim said after that iconic moment in Tokyo in our Olympics podcast here: