Vladimir Yashchenko

Vladimir Ilyich Yashchenko (Владимир Ильич Ященко) or Volodymyr Yashchenko (Володимир Ященко) (12 January 1959 – 30 November 1999) was a Ukrainian member of the Soviet national team and former world record holder in the high jump (233 cm, 234 cm and 235 cm).

He first broke the record at age 18 with a jump of 2.33 m, at the USA-USSR junior dual meet in Richmond, Virginia, 1977. He won the 1978 European Championships high jump competition with a jump of 230 cm. On 12 March 1978 he achieved the highest mark using the straddle technique.

In 1979 he suffered a severe knee injury and his career was effectively over at the age of 20. Yashchenko died from cirrhosis at the age of 40.