Javier Sotomayor enjoys world record holder status

He may have been asked the eternal question a million times, but he is already used to being the world record holder in the high jump, which he enjoys today: Javier Sotomayor.

His record of 2.45 meters, established on July 27, 1993, in Salamanca, Spain, has endured and remains unbroken.

Visiting Spain, where one of his sons, 14-year-old and 1.97-meter tall Jaxier, has a future in athletics at the national championship here, Sotomayor told Prensa Latina exclusively that sport entails perseverance, effort, devotion, and a bit of luck.

“Of course, I am concerned about how long my record will last. To be honest, and it is not my personal desire, everything indicates that it will not be broken anytime soon because for some time now the performance of current high jumpers has slowed down,” he commented.

At the insistence of Prensa Latina, he recalled that in 2013, 2014, and until 2015, Ukrainian Bohdan Bondarenko was a strong candidate to break his world record. He jumped 2.42 meters and was competing against Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim for the gold medal.

However, after trying to beat Sotomayor’s record three times in 2013, he never recovered his shape. Now Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi are the main figures in this sport.