体坛英语新闻：Croatian Vlasic defends women's high jump title in Berlin worlds

BERLIN, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- World champion Blanka Vlasic of Croatia defended the women's high jump title at the 12th world athletics championships here on Thursday.

    Vlasic jumped over 2.04 meters in her second attempt while Russia's Anna Chicherova and host jumper Ariane Friedrich took the silver and bronze respectively with the same height of 2.02 meters.

    Chicherova, who won a silver at Osaka world championships two years ago, demonstrated stable performance on Thursday's final as she jumped over 2.02 meters at her first try, making her temporarily in the lead. Vlasic overcame the height at her second attempt while Ariane Friedrich jumped over it at her third try.

    However, at the height of 2.04 meters, Chicherova and Friedrich failed but Vlasic made it, finding back the honor she had lost in the Beijing Olympics. Two years ago in Osaka, Vlasic won her first world title, but she was disappointed to get a silver at Beijing Games last year.

    "I did not expect 2.04 meters to be enough for the victory. I was expecting it much higher but I was concentrating on my own heights and on staying peaceful," she said.

    "2.04 meters means nothing to me, I would be happy for the new PB. These championships are perfect and I was ready to give everything from myself," she added.