A predictable battle between the season leader and the London Olympic champion transpired in the men’s event.  But it took a clutch effort from Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim to keep Ivan Ukhov from walking away with a tepid first-jump 2.30 win.

After two somewhat uninspired efforts at 2.30, Barshim, the world leader at 2.33, came up with a gritty jump and had lots of space on his third attempt to send the bar to would-be world-leading 2.34, as both jumpers passed 2.32.

Both jumpers failed on their first two tries, and Barshim exited quickly in the third round, leaving winner Ukhov on the runway with a no-pressure attempt.  The capacity crowd begged for a big climax to the contest, but Ukhov crushed their hopes as he crashed the bar.

Finland’s Osku Torru had a clean record through 2.26 and took third ahead of the fourth-place tie at the same height between Jaroslav Baba of the Czech Republic and former world champion Donald Thomas of Bahamas.

A surprising finish from a negative standpoint was the 12^th-place garnered by reigning world champion Jesse Williams of the US, who could only come up with 2.18 tonight in his season opener.  He and the rest of the group will continue onward to Trinec on Tuesday, where they will be joined by European leader Aleksey Dmitrik of Russia, who could not be in Hustopece because of his participation in the multi-nation meeting in Glasgow on Saturday.