Olympic high jump champion Maria Lasitskene won her first start after winning in Tokyo.
She became the best at the stage of the Diamond League in Lausanne, where she again met her main rivals - Ukrainian Yaroslava Maguchikh and Australian Nicola McDermott.
The first competition of a Russian woman in a new status for herself was supposed to be a similar tournament in the American Eugene, but Lasitsken could not get a visa to enter the United States.
It was only in Switzerland that it was possible to perform in front of the fans after the empty stands in Tokyo, and this start was especially important for the 28-year-old athlete.
Due to the skipping of a number of starts, Lasitsken had almost no chance to qualify for the final competition in Zurich.
Only a successful performance at all the remaining tournaments could help her.
But the three-time world champion taught that she can handle even such difficult tasks.
Lasickene started her performance in Lausanne with confident jumps of 1.85 and 1.89 meters, which allowed her to share the intermediate lead with McDermott.
But the next height brought the Australian ahead.
From 1.92 m she coped with the first attempt, and the Russian woman, like Maguchikh and her compatriot Irina Gerashchenko, needed a second exit to the sector.
After raising the bar by another three centimeters, Lasitskene remained the second.
She climbed only on the third attempt, like McDermott, while the Maguchikhs took two.
Gerashchenko did not cope with the task, and only the same three girls who fought for Olympic medals remained in the fight.
As a result, almost the same scenario was repeated as in Tokyo.
At the right moment, Lasitskene removed all questions about the winner, jumping 1.98 m the first time. Maguchikh repeated this result, but not immediately, and McDermott left the sector altogether.
Not the most pleasant weather for jumping did not allow the girls to further conquer the bar, and as a result Lasitskene won the stage of the Diamond League for the 25th time in her career - this has not been achieved by any high jumper yet.
“It is always a great joy for me to return to Lausanne.
It is very pleasant that my personal best was set here - that is why it is always so great for me here.
I really think this stadium brings me luck.
Although it was clearly too cold for me today, I was ready for it.
I am already looking forward to the opportunity to come next year, ”Lasitskienė said after the victory.
The day before, a high jump competition among men took place.
They were held separately from the main program not at the stadium, but on one of the streets of Lausanne.
The best in them was the Russian athlete Ilya Ivanyuk.
The Swiss stage of the Diamond League was not qualifying for the final for men, but the lineup was still pretty decent.
Of the main stars of this discipline, only Mutaz Essa Barshim, who went to see the Emir of Qatar on the occasion of his victory at the Olympics, and Mikhail Akimenko were absent.
He had to end the season at the last moment due to injury.
The fans were primarily waiting for the performance of the winner of the second gold medal in Tokyo, Gianmarco Tamberi from Italy, as well as the bronze medalist Maxim Nedosekov from Belarus. But for both athletes, who also share the leadership in the world season, the first start after the Olympics was unsuccessful. Nedosekov could not even take the initial height of 2.16 m, and Tamberi began to experience difficulties after he overcame 2.24 m. All his subsequent attempts after that were unsuccessful.
Ivanyuk conquered 2.24 m the second time, but corrected himself at the next height of 2.27 m, which he overcame immediately. This allowed him to lead the competition with his best attempts. He overcame the next line of 2.30 m alone, repeating his result of the Olympics, in which he took ninth place. After winning the stage of the Diamond League for the third time in the season, Ivanyuk tried to improve his personal best and ordered a height of 2.38 m, which no one has ever taken this season. But this time the Russian was not lucky.
“I had a good first try, but on the second and third I had a little problem with my socks. They began to slide in the spike, and therefore I could not jump to my personal best. Maybe at the next competition it will work out. There was a good jumping sector today. At other competitions, it will probably be difficult to jump because here it is very good with it. I'm glad today there was a good atmosphere and the audience ... everything is perfect, - said the 28-year-old athlete. - My goal for this year was the Olympics, but there I could not give a result higher than today's 2.30. And I'm not worried: everyone jumped very well there. Now we will prepare for the World Cup next year and work hard. ”
This season, Ivanyuk will also perform in the final of the Diamond League in Zurich, where he has already managed to qualify.
On September 9, he will compete for a $ 30,000 prize and a personal quota for the World Cup.
Pole vaulter Timur Morgunov will also try to return to Switzerland.
He also performed in Lausanne, and quite successfully.
The 24-year-old Russian, who missed the competition in Tokyo due to lack of neutral status, conquered the height of 5.72 m. Only Americans Christopher Nielsen and Sam Kendricks were above him.
Olympic champion Armand Duplantis from Sweden lost 10 cm to Morgunov, and the former world record holder Renault Lavilieni from France completely stopped at the bar of 5.32 m.
Morgunov immediately ended up in the top six in pole vaulting - this is exactly the condition that must be met in order to qualify for the final. Before the competition in Zurich, there will be more starts in Paris and Brussels, where an athlete from Chelyabinsk needs to try to score more points.