Tribune News Network Doha
World champion and Olympic gold medalist Mutaz Barshim will be aiming for his fourth Diamond League finals triumph in Zurich on Wednesday. The Qatari jumper will be up against a familiar rival and co-Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi, with the Italian aiming to retain his title which he won last year. The final is scheduled at 7pm Qatar time and will be held outside the stadium, at the Sechselautenplatz Town Square.Since the World Championships in Oregon, where Barshim successfully defended his title and Tamberi finished fourth, the pair competed together in Monaco and Lausanne, but the last time they met was actually at Tamberi’s wedding at the start of this month, where the Italian’s good friend as well as rival Barshim was among the guests.While Tamberi is yet to reach the peak of his Tokyo heroics, Barshim has been consistent this season if not at his best. The Qatari won in Monaco and then finished second in Lausanne. The 30-year-old will now look to end the season on a high. “I’m eagerly looking forward to going out there, having some good jumps and end my season on a high,” he said yesterday.While Barshim still has hopes of breaking the 2.45m world record on day, he did concede he has become a wiser jumper over the years. “As you grow older, you become wiser and your way of jumping changes. I used to compete four to five times a month, flying here, there and everywhere. It was important at the time because I was young, without much experience, and I needed to lay the foundation. Thank God, I’m standing here today because of all the jumps I did then,” he said.“But now, when I jump, I feel I need to do something which makes people say, ‘this hasn’t been done before.’ How do you want to be remembered when you retire? For me, when people talk about high jump, they shouldn’t be able to do it without mentioning my name. So there’s always a bigger picture than just coming and competing,” he added.Barshim’s main opponent will today will be Ukraine’s world bronze medallist Andriy Protsenko, who won in Lausanne under challenging conditions. They will battle for the top spot in Zurich along with USA’s JuVaughn Harrison, who won in Rome, plus Canada’s NACAC champion and Birmingham Diamond League winner Django Lovett and New Zealand’s Commonwealth champion Hamish Kerr. The winner today will claim the Diamond Trophy and US$30000 in prize money.
