USA's Tianna Bartoletta in action in the long jump (© AFP / Getty Images)
The long jump clash between Olympic champion Tianna Bartoletta and European champion Ivana Spanovic at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe on 3 February is set to be one of the highlights of the opening IAAF World Indoor Tour fixture of 2018.
It has been nine years since Bartoletta’s last indoor long jump competition. During that time, she has won three Olympic gold medals – two in the 4x100m and one in the long jump – won her second world long jump title, set a world 4x100m record, picked up two world indoor 60m bronze medals and bagged bronze at the 2017 World Championships.
Now that she has an outdoor PB of 7.17m, Bartoletta’s indoor PB of 6.80m, set when winning the 2006 world indoor title, is perhaps due for revision.
The US jumper will be up against one of the best indoor long jumpers in history: Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic. The world and Olympic bronze medallist won the European indoor title last year with a national indoor record of 7.24m, the best indoor jump in the world since 1989 and putting her third on the world indoor all-time list.
British indoor record-holder Lorraine Ugen, who earned 2016 world indoor bronze and 2017 European indoor silver behind Spanovic, is also set to compete in Karlsruhe.
As expected, there will also be a strong German presence with European bronze medallist Malaika Mihambo, 2015 European indoor silver medallist Sosthene Moguenara and 6.95m indoor performer Alexandra Wester in the field.
Organisers for the IAAF
