The Peninsula
Qatar’s world champion Mutaz Essa Barshim yesterday made a roaring return to action after a year-long injury layoff, leaping to 2.27m to win the high jump event at Sopot Grand Prix Athletics in Sopot, Poland yesterday.
It was after five years that the 27-year old Asian record holder returned to the Polish meet.
Yesterday’s event was his first since he suffered injury at the Gyulai Memorial in Székesfehérvár, Hungary, last July.
Barshim after winning the Gyulai Memorial meet with a jump of 2.40m, attempted world record of 2.46m, and he almost cleared Javier Sotomayor’s longstanding record of 2.45m, but landed clutching his left ankle during his third attempt, only to see his season cut short.
Barshim, who is the second best on the world all-time list since September 2014 when he scaled 2.43m at the Diamond League final in Brussels, had four of the five highest jumps in 2018 before the unfortunate injury setback.
The two-time Olympic medallist returned to training just over two months ago and decided against competing at the Asian Athletics Championships, which took place in Doha in April.
The 2017 IAAF Athlete-of-the-Year and the Rio Olympics silver medallist, will be looking to improve his performances ahead of the World Championships, which will take place in Doha from September 28-October 6.