IT IS ALWAYS good for aspiring high jumpers to observe the different styles of preparation and run-up of elite practitioners. For instance, Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic, like many of her male and female contemporaries, spends a considerable amount of time standing quietly, feet together underneath her head and arms hanging by her sides, thinking through or visualising what she is about to do and what she wants to happen.
Sometimes she has her mouth open, sometimes it’s closed. But having satisfied herself with her mental preparation, Vlasic takes a step back with her right foot and leans backward so that most of her body weight is taken by that foot.
Then she looks forward to where her feet are about to land and starts her J-shaped run-up with long, almost slow-motion, strides, arms moving in sync, before accelerating, crucially using her eyes to look over the bar to where she wants to go.