Robbie Grabarz equals British high jump record and eyes up cash prize
ST Neots Olympic bronze medal winning high jumper Robbie Grabarz is closing in on what is potentially his biggest pay day in the sport after equalling the 20-year-old British record.
The 24-year-old certainly hasn’t been standing still since becoming a household name when he came joint third in the high jump competition at the London 2012 Olympics Games. The athlete equalled Steve Smith’s record of 1.37 metres at Lousanne in Switzerland on Thursday, and on Sunday he won the high jump competition at the sold out and televised last but one Diamond League athletics meeting in Birmingham. He even had a go at 1.38 metres which would have been a GB best - but couldn’t quite pull that height off.
Now, with one Diamond League meeting remaining - in Zurich on Thursday - Grabarz is on the verge of claiming the Diamond League’s �31,500 end-of-season prize pot.
The Birmingham victory took the former Crosshall Junior School and Longsands College pupil to the top of the League standing and If he beats the out-of-form American World Champion Jesse Williams in Zurich, the cash is his.
Grabarz had his funding cut at the end of 2011 and scraped a living through the winter while training in Birmingham. In London he became an Olympic hero.
He said: “I was pretty skint in January. It was a matter of jump high and you will survive, and I did.
“I feel like I deserve it.”
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Grabarz and fellow Olympians Mo Farrah, Jesicca Ennis and Greg Rutherford were introduced to the Birmingham crowd before the events began on Sunday with national hero Farrah going on to win on the track over two miles.
But it was Grabarz who performed the best on the day, setting himself up for the chance of that cash proze.
“It’s been fantastic,” he said. “I just came here to win. I did my jump, and I got to try a British record again.
“The higher you jump the more fun it is.”
