World record in Zurich?

THE CLOSER we get to the end of the athletics season, the less talk there is about world records.

At the Brussels Diamond League meet last week and Continental Tour meets in Padova and Berlin last Sunday, you could see the tired legs. Expectant ‘world record watch’ frenzy has faded, and you can understand why.

Sensational American 400-metre hurdler Sydney McLaughlin headed home not long after her stunning 50.68-second run at the World Championships in July. Slick Nigerian 100-metre hurdles winner Tobi Amusan, who blazed a record 12.12 seconds in her World semi-finals, limped away from a win in Berlin on Sunday, and Swedish vaulter Mondo Duplantis lost in Brussels last week at a height much lower than the record of 6.21 metres he set in Eugene, Oregon, at the Worlds.

Talk about Jamaican world records in the women’s sprints has simmered down, too, despite the fine work by World champions Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson, and Commonwealth Games double winner Elaine Thompson-Herah.

However, this week’s Diamond League final might still see a world record. Set for Zurich, Switzerland, the high jump stars the hottest female athlete on earth at this moment, Yaroslava Mahuchikh.

The tall Ukrainian lost in Eugene, but last week in Brussels, the 22-year-old European champion cleared 2.02m and then 2.05 metres to move up to joint number 10 all-time.

Then Mahuchikh raised the bar to 2.10 metres, one centimetre above Stefka Kostadinova’s legendary world record of 2.09m. Shockingly, all her attempts were close and observers wondered if the Bulgarian’s 1987 monument was about to fall.

In July, she was second best to Australian Eleanor Patterson at the Worlds. Now, the Olympic bronze medallist is the best jumper on earth. Her name could be up in lights when the dust settles.

Zurich has seen world records in both 100 metres, including one by Asafa Powell in 2006, and several in the men’s 110-metre hurdles. If Jackson chooses the 200m over the 100m, she could make a run at the 1988 mark of 21.34 seconds owned by Florence Griffith Joyner. If she doubles, there won’t be enough time to recover fully from the 100m in the 90 minutes between that race and the 200 metres, where she is the second-fastest of all time at 21.45 seconds.

The signs are good. All of Jackson’s big 200-metre efforts this year follow fast 100m races. She ran 10.77 seconds at the Jamaican Championships and then a massive 21.55 seconds in the 200m. In Eugene, she preceded the 21.45 seconds with a personal best in the 100m at 10.73 seconds.

What’s her last 100-metre time, you might ask. The answer is 10.73 in Brussels on September 2.

It’s a tough choice, given that she did 10.71 seconds earlier in August to approach 10.6-second territory. Nevertheless, if she focuses on the 200m on Thursday, buckle your seat belt.