Updated 09:56 | Published at 09:46
Melwin Lycke Holm takes JEM gold in his first major championship ever.
And he outclasses father Stefan’s JEM achievements, where the future Olympic champion was sixth best.
Quick version
Melwin Lycke Holm won gold in the high jump at the JEM in Jerusalem, his first major championship. The gold jump was 2.18m, and he was flawless all the way there. Ayla Hallberg Hossein placed a strong fourth in the women’s long jump final with a jump of 6 .50 m.
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Melwin was a clear medal hope when he arrived in Jerusalem.
But the fact that he would jump home the gold was a shock.
And above all, how easy he made it in the end.
Melwin immediately showed that he was fit.
He was the only one who skipped the entry height of 2.00 and chose to enter at 2.05 which he took playfully.
Just like the following 2.09, 2.12, 2.15 and touched the personal best 2.18.
All with air.
And his 2.18 in the first attempt was a golden leap.
full screen Melwin Lycke Holm took gold in the U20 EC. Photo: SVT
At 2.21 there were only two jumpers left and both Melwin and the Italian Edoardo Stronati were still in the competition.
But both ripped in all three of their attempts.
Better than dad
Stefan Holm made his championship debut in JEM in Spanish San Sebastian in 1993.
Then he was a disappointing eleven in 2.06, after setting a personal best in the qualifier with 2.12.
Two years later he was sixth in the JEM in Hungarian Nyiregyhaza with a jump of 2.17.
Melwin has to live with being compared to dad Stefan, like everyone who had successful fathers in the same sport.
Especially as both have a complete record of every single result they’ve ever done and at what age.
Melwin has always been inches ahead of dad Stefan in development
Stefan passed 2.30 for the first time as a 20-year-old indoors in 1997, the same year he would have turned 21.
He was slow to start, but had a violent development when he passed twenty.
The highlight was when he won the Olympic gold in Athens in 2004, but also when he passed the dream limit of 2.40 at the indoor EC in Madrid the following year.
Where it will end for Melwin, no one knows.
But this was a step on the way.
Ayla Hallberg Hossein took a strong fourth place in the women’s cross country final with a jump of 6.50.
Only 16 years old and severely underage in this context.
One centimeter from a bronze place and just six centimeters from a gold.
She had a personal record of 6.39 outdoors from the same Jerusalem last year when it was the J18 EC.
Now she increased by five centimeters.
It takes her up to a shared fourth place in Sweden this year in a branch where there is stiff competition and which is topped by Maja Åskag at 6.75. And then an injury-plagued Khaddi Sagnia has barely jumped this summer.
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2023-08-10 07:52:27
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