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An elegantly executed high jump can appear almost effortless. In reality, it's a complex combination of athletic prowess, gymnastic flair, precision timing and mental toughness. SPIKES meets Alessia Trost, one of high jump's hottest prospects, to find out more.
SPIKES meets Trost in her hometown of Pordenone: a north Italian town that is also the birthplace, incidentally, of Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Reggie Jackson.
At 6ft 2ins (1.88m), Trost, 20, wouldn't look out of place among Jackson's NBA collegues. But her rangy frame can feel cumbersome when it comes to her own sport.
"Ever since I started, my biggest weakness has been the dorsal curve, because being so tall I find it hard to understand where my feet, legs are arms are – and so understand my position in the air" says Trost, who has taken up artistic gymnastics to help expel her dorsal demons.
“Gymnastics provides a great overall training, not only in regards to the curve. We work on jumps too, like the somersault and the flick, and trying to build up the upper body to compensate."
Trost, like Canada’s world and Olympic high jump medallist Derek Drouin, has also been dabbling in combined events. She scored 4035 points in the pentathlon at a local meeting in Padua, not far off the Italian under-23 record.
“Like in everyday life, multitasking is always good and it is the same in athletics.”
It sounds so simple when you put it like that, but her change in tact is a big leap of faith when you consider that Trost, the 2012 world junior champion, only really emerged into the elite in 2013.
Rising star: Alessia Trost is one of the most exciting young athletes in the world.
Aged 19, she stunned the athletics world with a 2.00m clearance in Trinec last January.
"When I started to compete indoor last season, I had nothing to lose, those were actually my first meetings as a pro,” she says.
“But after those results, I started to feel a lot more pressure. There will always be this pressure, but back then, I still had to learn how to deal with it and my first experience was catastrophic,” says Trost, who couldn't repeat her Trinec heroics at the European indoor champs, clearing 1.92m for fourth place.
“After the European championships, I went back home feeling desperate, in the sense that it was very hard for me mentally,” she says.
“But then, by the end of the outdoor season, I adjusted a few details and things started to go much better.”
Trost finished 2013 ranked world number one indoors and came seventh in a high-class high jump final at the Moscow 2013 World Championships. She also won the European u-23 title in Tampere – so what's next?
“We want to jump abroad, especially in the Diamond League, though we need to be accepted first. My coach [Gianfranco Chessa], gives it as granted, but I do not think so.
“It would mean shaking off the pressure from the Italian media, and learning how to compete with different pressures, and face different conditions.”
A wise head on young shoulders, when speaking to Trost it's easy to forget that she's still only 20 years old.
"There is a lot more to learn outside of the track, like travelling, eating well and so on, because when you are chasing after a performance, those are all factors to consider in the final sum.”
“In the end, my main goal will be the Zurich 2014 European Championships, which don’t feel much different from the world championships in the high jump competition.
"I mean, you take out an American athlete and add Blanka Vlasic, so it is basically the same… if not worse!”
Johan Cronje trudged through 11 years of hurt, frustration and near-misses – but won a world 1500m bronze in Moscow last year. SPIKES charts the South African's incredibly long and painful route to glory.
Born to Danie (a steeplechaser) and Sarina (a former South African record holder over 800m, 1500m and 3000m), Johan Cronje was always likely to be an athlete.
After a promising junior career, which included fifth place finishes at the world youths and world juniors in 1999 and 2000, Cronje seemed destined to prosper. This is what happened next...Â
2002/03 – My first injury
Cronje suffered a major injury for the first time in his career. Due to inexperience, he failed to adequately rest a hip problem which developed into Iliotibial band (IT band) syndrome. "I didn't know how to handle the injury" says Cronje, who was forced to miss the 2003 season.
2004 – "I was a fatty"
Back to form, Cronje qualified for the Athens Olympics. Three weeks before the Games, he got involved with a game of football at a training camp. Felled by a late tackle, he damaged his achilles and took up eating.
"I was young and stupid" he says. "Because I wasn't training, I started eating too much. By the time of the Games I'd put on 4kg. I was a fatty. It was a complete lack of discipline, a little bit like the smoker who quits and then starts eating too much – I had stopped running and started to eat."
Cronje still progressed through his heat in Athens but finished 11th in his semi-final.Â
2005 – No coach, more food
A fitter, leaner Cronje trimmed his personal best to 3:35.58 (from 3:37.28) during an early season outing in Doha. He then spent ten weeks on the European circuit, a decision he regrets and another poor platform for healthy living.
"I had no coach to look after me, I didn't do a lot of training and I put on a lot of weight."
Oh, Johan! At the Helsinki 2005 World Championships he again finished 11th in his semi-final.
2006 – Injured again
Preparing for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Cronje felt ready for his best ever season. But another muscular injury ruled him out of the competition. It was another year of disappointment, and it hit him hard.
"After that I was kind of done for the season. I ran a little bit in Europe, but it was nothing spectacular."
2007 – Nosaka
A lifelong sufferer of shin splints, he sustained a stress fracture of the tibia which later developed into (another) IT band issue, which wrecked his season. Consequently, he performed poorly and failed to qualify for the world champs in Osaka. "Not a good year" he says, bluntly.
2008 – Fractured Olympics
Yet another year of disappointment. The stress fracture redeveloped, meaning a summer at home in South Africa rather than in Beijing's spectacular Bird's Nest (below).
2009 – False dawn
The Bloemfontein-based athlete returned to training with renewed vigour. For the first time, Cronje undertook a structured training programmed in which every kilometre was monitored and accounted for.
This paid dividends on the track, and he set a new PB in Monaco (3:33.63) – arriving in Berlin for the world champs full of confidence.
"I was in the best shape of my life, yet I totally messed up the heats. I went in there without a plan. In my mind I was already in the final."
Cronje finished ninth in his heat and was eliminated. His newfound confidence had manifested as complacency. "I was very depressed and thought about leaving the sport."
2010 – Surely not again...
This was, even for Cronje, a "slow year". A third stress fracture prevented him from competing at the world indoors. He only ran a handful of times all season.
2011 – A chink of light
Cronje failed to compete for a calendar year after undergoing knee ligament surgery. Lesser men would have walked away from running entirely, but he's since identified 2011 as a real turning point.
"For some reason the operation changed my biomechanics in such a way that I no longer struggle with shin splints. It was a blessing."
2012 – The worst pain yet
After starting the season late because of the operation, he needed to dip below the Olympic qualifying mark of 3:35.50 twice to win selection for the London Games.
Sadly, he achieved the feat only once and missed out on selection by just 0.15. "I was very disappointed," he says.
"Since I was a little boy I always had it my mind that as I would be aged 26 and 30 at the time of the 2008 and 2012 Olympics – these would be my biggest years.”
2013 – O.M.G in Moscow
Cronje rethought his strategy, and decided to race for pure enjoyment. Things finally started going to plan.
He ran a national record of 3:33.46 in Doha and, upon returning to South Africa, became a father. He chose to spend July at home with his wife and infant son Daniel, training in Bloemfontein rather than racing.
Cronje arrived at the Moscow 2013 World Championships "mentally fresh" and, with a perfectly timed late burst, clinched bronze in the 1500m final.Â
The Moscow 1500m podium (L-R): Matt Centrowitz, Asbel Kiprop and John Cronje.
“I’m probably one of the few people who would have kept on going after all the setbacks," he says. "But I’m still in the sport because I love athletics, running 1500m and competing. I always had this feeling in the back of my mind that I could actually be good and win medals.”
He finished the season on high another high, setting a new national record of 3:31.91 in Rieti.
2014 – Go, Johan!
This year, he'll target the world indoors in Sopot and the Commonwealths in Glasgow.
"I'm now in position to compete in all the nice meetings, and it looks like it will make the last few years of my career worthwhile.”
He's also now working as an investment specialist, and plans to use his twilight years on the track for enjoyment.
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