Tajay Gayle in the long jump with 804 cm and Jan Štefela with 228 cm in the high jump highlighted the 10th anniversary edition of the JBL Jump Fest with new meeting records.
Our street event was held for the first time with a Silver Label from World Athletics, which is the highest possible label for events held outside traditional stadiums. On the first day, the men’s and women’s long jump competitions were classified under the Silver Label category, followed by the men’s high jump on the second day.
First Ever Over 8 Meters
Spectators on-site and those watching the stream witnessed a breathtaking battle between Radek Juška from the Czech Republic and Jamaica’s Tajay Gayle. Both athletes challenged the meeting record with nearly every attempt. Juška improved his own record to 798 cm in the 3rd round, but Gayle responded with a 799 cm jump in the 4th round. The competition climaxed in the final round when the 2019 world champion from Jamaica broke the 8-meter barrier for the first time in the event’s history with a leap of 804 cm, setting a new meet record.
The women’s competition was also thrilling, with Khaddi Sagnia from Sweden coming just 1 cm short of the meet record with a jump of 669 cm. Interestingly, this was a kind of personal best for her, as she had recently switched her takeoff leg, making this her best performance from the new leg. A strong women’s competition saw Mona’e Nichols from the USA take second place with 663 cm, and a surprising third place went to Alysbeth Felix from Puerto Rico with 658 cm.
Štefela Improved the Meeting Record by 1 cm
The high jump competition was equally exciting. Jan Štefela set a new event record of 228 cm. “I’m mainly happy that I’ve relearned how to jump. At the last two Diamond League meets, I jumped like an amateur. I couldn’t get it right and only managed 216 and 220 cm. Today, it worked. I’m glad it happened here because I was really looking forward to Košice. I knew the crowd would push me to jump high,” said Štefela after the event. He was closely challenged by Kravchuk from Ukraine, who matched his personal best with a jump of 225 cm, while Rivera from Mexico took third with 221 cm.
Everyone Gave Their All – Time to cool down and decide What’s Next
Every year, we try to move our Jump Fest forward, and in addition to gaining Silver Label status, this year’s new feature was a night program for the Open category, which responded to the huge interest from athletes wanting to come to Košice. As a result, JBL Jump Fest had one extra competition day, making it a three-day event in total.
The driving force for the whole organizing team is the Open category a growing group of passionate athletes who come to Košice at their own expense from around the world to experience the unique atmosphere of this street event held under the iconic St. Elizabeth Cathedral. “It’s not even about the performances so much, but about entertaining the spectators. We’re lucky that athletes who aren’t yet at the elite level still love to come here. They pay for flights and accommodation from Australia, the United States, Canada—it’s the highlight of their season,” said Stanislav Navesňák, the event’s founder.
The athletes in the Open category were far from overshadowed and could easily compete with the Elite. Gergely Török stood out in the men’s high jump with an impressive 221 cm, and Haakanen from Finland led the women’s high jump with 184 cm. Also noteworthy was a 781 cm long jump effort by Mackenzie Ross from Scotland.
With the growing number of days and athletes, organizational demands increase as well. “For us, this is a passion project. Ten years ago, we had one long jump ramp and about ten people organizing everything. Now, there are about 150 people involved. For the first time, we worked with an architect who designed the venue to be both functional and stylish,” said Navesňák, who was happier with this 10th edition than the previous one: “Last year it was about 60 percent, this year 90 percent. We all need to sit down and cool down because the atmosphere was really tense. This is something we all do outside our regular jobs, and people are under a lot of stress. Everyone gave their all, and we’ll need to take a breath to decide whether we’ll continue.”
We’d like to express our gratitude to all the partners who contributed to the event. Special thanks go to our title partner JBL, the Košice Self-Governing Region for co-financing the project, the City of Košice for allowing us to host the event at this amazing venue, and to our loyal partners Toyota and Ariete.
Photo: Soňa Maléterová