Loïc Gasch surprisingly won the silver medal in the high jump at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade on Sunday. The Romand crosses 2.31 m in the second attempt.
The Vaudois delivered a flawless competition. When the bar was raised to 2.34 m for the remaining five athletes, Gasch was even in the lead because of just one failed attempt. He thus had the best starting position of the quintet. Ultimately, only Woo Sanghyeok from South Korea managed to increase.
“It wasn’t easy to stay focused during this phase. But I was looking forward to the continuation of the competition because I felt that the 2.34 m are also within me,” said the 1.91 m tall Gasch. The 27-year-old from Yverdon has held the Swiss outdoor record since last summer. He crossed 2.33 m in Lausanne, thus getting the Olympic ticket for Tokyo and erasing the age-old record set by Roland Dalhäuser in 1981. Gasch did not advance into new spheres. Belgrade was his third event in which he broke the 2.30m mark. Dalhäuser still holds the indoor Swiss record with 2.32.
In the end, four men finished the competition with a height of 2.31 m. The jumper from Sainte-Croix left the Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi behind, among others. The Italian, like New Zealander Hamish Kerr, took bronze.
“Knew the competition would be open”
“I knew before arriving in Belgrade that the competition would be open,” said the Vaud native. «My head was ready and I felt good from the start. And with every height mastered in the first attempt, confidence increased. »
Gasch won a medal at an international competition for the first time. Even in the junior categories, it never worked out at the decisive moment. The success is to be granted to the Romand. In 2020 he was ill with the corona virus, and for a long time he had problems with his lungs, liver and muscles. (SDA)
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