Qatar's Barshim Wins Latest High Jump Epic at Sainsbury's Birmingham Grand Prix

Birmingham, August 24 (QNA) - Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim won the latest high jump battle with his arch rival Bohdan Bondarenko at the Sainsbury's Birmingham Grand Prix, an IAAF Diamond League meeting, as both men cleared 2.38m in another high quality contest that caught the imagination of the 13,000 capacity crowd on Sunday. Barshim had beaten the Ukrainian in Rome when he leapt 2.41m but Bondarenko came out on top in their stunning competition in New York when both cleared 2.42m and the latter won again in Monaco before going on to claim the European title in Zurich last week. However, the Qatari was the slightly fresher man this time and won on count-back with a clean card from 2.24m to 2.35m while Bondarenko failed his first attempt at 2.28m. Canada's Derek Drouin and USA's Erik Kynard both needed three tries to clear 2.32m, and the pair fell away at 2.35m, leaving the two principles to battle it out. Barshim was jumping first so after two fails at 2.38, he was the first to face elimination. He watched the women's two milers go by, settled himself and arched over the bar. It was a stadium record for the Mutaz Essa Barshim. Barshim was first to fail at 2.41m leaving Bondarenko with one jump to win. He was close, merely brushing the bar with his heels on third effort, but not close enough and Barshim took his second Diamond League victory to close the gap in the Diamond Race to four points. "Im happy I got the win which is all that matters," said Barshim "Its the battle they are all talking about: Barshim versus Bondarenko. "Ive got a lot of competitions coming up so there is a lot to still compete for." he added. Kenya's David Rudisha, who produced the finest track performance of the 2012 London Olympics when he broke the world 800 metres world record in the final, failed in an attempt on the world 600 metres mark set in 1986 by American Johnny Gray. The womens 400 provided a popular winner in Britains world champion Christine Ohuruogu, who ran a conservative first 200 before finishing strongly to win in 51.40. Jamaican Kerron Stewart won the womens 100 in 11.22 seconds after American Tori Bowie failed to finish. Bowie, the fastest woman in the world this year, who had won her heat, limped off the track clutching her left thigh. (QNA)