At Salamanca he set a world record of 2.43 metres, but was denied the chance to compete at the 1988 Olympics due to another Cuban boycott.
He twice increased the world record, to 2.44 metres (8 ft 0.06 in) on July 29, 1989 in San Juan and to the current record of 2.45 metres (8 ft 0.46 in) on July 23, 1993 in Salamanca. Sotomayor also set the current world indoor record of 2.43 metres (7 ft 11.67 in) on March 4, 1989 in Budapest.
Sotomayor has a rare dominance in the history of this event. At the time he retired he had 17 of the top 20 jumps of all time. Only 13 men in history have jumped 2.40 meters or higher, and only 5 have done it more than once. Sotomayor did it 24 times (in 21 different competitions between September 1988 - March 1995). He is the only person to have cleared 2.44 m (8 ft) (which he did twice).
Following his world record in September 1993, he had his greatest year in 1994, when he (again) was the only jumper to scale 2.40 m or better, doing so ten times that year: two during the indoor season in February, and seven times outdoors, starting at Seville on 5 June 1994, where he cleared 2.40 before recording the year's best jump of 2.42 metres (7 ft 11.28 in). Besides dominating the event on the Grand Prix circuit, Sotomayor recorded wins at the Goodwill Games in St Petersburg on 29 July, and at the World Cup in London on 11 September, where his best jump of 2.40 m was a record 12 centimeters above the next-best performance.
The last time he would clear 2.40 meters was on March 25, 1995 at the Pan American Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Only Bohdan Bondarenko and Mutaz Essa Barshim have jumped higher outdoors since, although four men equaled the mark.
Sotomayor's event progression (Salamanca - 1993):
2.29 m (-)
2.32 m (0)
2.35 m (-)
2.38 m (0)
2.41 m (-)
2.45 m (X0)
25 дек 2010
