Until the final of the Diamond League, the 2021 season could hardly be called successful for Angelica Sidorova.
On the one hand, in June she won the series stage in Florence.
On the other, and more importantly, she suffered a painful defeat at the Olympic Games.
There is no other name for her silver in Tokyo.
Since then, the Russian woman has been left without serious practice for a month.
She and Maria Lasitsken had to miss the stage in Eugene due to problems with American visas, and the tournament in Padua was won with a modest result and without serious competition.
Thus, the competition in Zurich was Angelica's last opportunity to take revenge for her failure in Japan.
The athlete, for sure, was glad to return to Switzerland, because it was here that seven years ago she won the European Championship and burst into the elite of her sport.
And in general, the local stadium is very much loved by the participants of the competition because of the invariably good weather and comfortable conditions.
However, this time, judging by the results, they favored Sidorova exclusively.
The rest of the participants in the final tournament suffered a fiasco, and it is difficult to explain such a failure.
So, the current Olympic champion Katie Nagotte, who took gold in Tokyo with a score of 4.90 m, sensationally could not even take the starting height of 4.57 m and completed her performances.
Bronze medalist of the Games Holly Bradshaw barely overcame 4.67 m, but she could not cope with 4.77 and, as a result, lost third place to Slovenian Tina Sutei in terms of the number of attempts.
Only Katerina Stefanidi stood out more or less against the background of the others.
The Olympic champion of Rio de Janeiro with the result of 4.77 m became the second.
In fact, the Russian woman competed with herself.
And it was impossible to stop her that evening.
She effortlessly, from the first attempt, overcame the bar at a height of 4.57, 4.67, 4.77, 4.84 and 4.91 m. The last month would have been enough to take the Olympic gold.
Then Angelica set the bar for the height of a personal record (4.96) and also took it outright.
Sidorova realized that today was her day and it was worth striking at a truly outstanding achievement and overcoming five meters - 5.01.
Previously, the world champion did not come close to these figures.
The first two attempts were unsuccessful, but the Russian woman did not think to give up.
She scattered, bounced off the ground, soared into the air and ... the bar resisted.
The usually calm athlete let go of her emotions and, barely holding back her tears, thanked the fans.
They gave her a standing ovation.
Then the Russian woman ran to hug her coach Svetlana Abramova and who was present at the Lasitsken stadium.
Even though Angelica has not yet managed to win the gold in the Olympic Games, she has already gone down in the history of her species, because the result of the Muscovite is fifth in women's jumping in the sixth.
Only the legendary Elena Isinbayeva, who still holds the world record of 5.06 m, managed to fly higher. It is curious that it was also set in Zurich in 2009, and since then no one has jumped 5.01 m in the open air.
So this is the best result in the last 12 years.
Surprisingly, after the end of the competition, Sidorova herself honestly admitted: she did not even expect that she would be able to make such a splash in the final of the Diamond League.
“I think this is a really suitable place for high jumps.
But I didn't feel that it would happen, we were all tired after a long season, and during the warm-up I didn't feel 100% ready to jump five meters.
I just wanted to make a few attempts and did not think about the ideal technique and ideal condition, "- quotes the words of the TASS winner.
According to the Olympic silver medalist, this success is especially important for her, and now she can go on vacation in a good mood.
“I still cannot believe that I have overcome the five-meter barrier.
I really like to jump here, because I became the European champion here and in general have performed in Zurich many times.
Now I am returning home with my first Diamond League trophy, ”added Sidorova.
In turn, the acting president of the All-Russian Athletics Federation Irina Privalova expressed the opinion that problems with competitive practice prevented the athlete from showing such a result at the Olympic Games.
“She could have reached the peak of her form a month ago ... The feeling of height comes among jumpers, as a rule, after participating in a sufficient number of lead starts in confrontation with serious rivals,” the functionary complained.
At the same time, she suggested that Sidorova would be able to compete for gold at the next Olympics: “Time is running very fast, and Angelica has a lot to strive for.
I really want the Games in Paris to be hers, she is able to perform there successfully. "
The last day of the Diamond League competition turned out to be positive for the other two Russians.
So, Timur Morgunov got into the top 3 in the pole vault sector.
The athlete did not go to the Olympic Games in Tokyo due to problems with obtaining neutral status, but after that he successfully performed twice at the stages of the Diamond League in Switzerland - third place in Lausanne and Zurich.
In the final, the triumphant Tokyo Armand Duplantis turned out to be unattainable, flying to a height of 6.06 m. The Russian fought for silver with Sam Kendricks.
Both showed a result of 5.93, but the American was higher in the number of attempts.
Finally, Ilya Ivanyuk became the third in the high jump.
The victory was won by one of the two reigning Olympic champions Gianmarco Tamberi (2.34 m).
But the second gold medalist of Tokyo, Mutaz Barshim, did not come to Zurich.
As a result, the second place was played by the domestic athlete and the Ukrainian Andrey Protsenko.
Both took the height of 2.30 m, but the opponent had fewer attempts by 2.27.
Thus, the Russians triumphantly finished the season in the Diamond League.
All four climbed the podium in Switzerland, and Lasitskene and Sidorova won historic victories.