The current situation is such that at the VI National Youth Games, in track and field events like men’s and women’s pole vault and women’s high jump, you could count the participants without even using all the fingers on one hand.
The athletics competitions at the VI Youth Games will be held from June 19 to 21 at the Olympic Training Center stadium, about 20 kilometers from Almaty. The age limit for participants is under 23 years.
In women’s pole vault, there will be only two athletes – both from Almaty: Anna Cherkashina and Elmira Kabirova. And both are technically still too young for the youth category. Kabirova is 18 and still competing in juniors, while Cherkashina is even younger at 17.
In the men’s pole vault, only four athletes will compete. Two of them aren’t just juniors – they’re still in the youth category: 17-year-old Dmitriy Shkerdin from Almaty and 16-year-old Nikita Chepushtanov from Karaganda. Another Almaty athlete, Maksim Balabin, is a junior. Only his teammate, Vladislav Garbuznyak, is nearing the upper age limit of 23.
Seeing such a tiny turnout, some might exclaim that if Kazakhstan ever had many pole vaulters, it was a very long time ago. But surprisingly, even in what’s considered a solid discipline — women’s high jump — the number of participants can also be counted on one hand. Only four athletes will compete at the Youth Games: Irina Sizova from Almaty, Arina Malyugina from Karaganda, Darya Nekhaenko from Ulytau region, and Faina Meirmanova from East Kazakhstan.
As for men’s high jump, things aren’t much better — just six athletes will take part: Igor Kosolapov and Mansur Karaul from Karaganda, Anatoliy Lyutsko and Yevgeniy Kulabukhov from Shymkent, Ignat Kozeka from Ulytau region, and Ruslan Lomtev from East Kazakhstan.
The idea to list each athlete by name came from the realization that our high jumpers and pole vaulters are truly few in number. They should be recognized and supported. But seriously, this shows that high jump and pole vault are on the brink in Kazakhstan — disciplines where Kazakh athletes held prominent roles for decades, both in the Soviet era and on the international stage.
In the photo: Nikita Chepushtanov – pole vaulter from Karaganda.
