High jump world record holder, Cuba’s Javier Sotomayor (left) and Barshim posing for a photograph.
Madrid: High jump world record holder, Cuban great Javier Sotomayor believes that this 2.45m mark will soon fall in the hands of Qatari World champion Mutaz Essa Barsshim.
Barshim, who won the Arab Athlete of the Year Award, presented by Spanish newspaper AS at a ceremony held in Madrid yesterday, has the second best figure in the history of high jump, a 2.43m mark which he set in Brussels in September, 2014.
“Barshim is the one who has the greatest chance to go beyond my number,” Sotomayor, who was present at the AS Awards yesterday, told AS Newspaper on the sidelines of the ceremony.
During an attempt to break Sotomayor’s 27-year-old record, Barshim raised the bar to 2.46m but failed to rewrite the history books. Barshim also sustained from an injury during that attempt but came back strongly after a long break to retain his world title in front of his home crowd at the IAAF World Championships in Doha in October.
