Yuri Nikolaevich Stepanov was a Soviet track and field athlete who specialized in the high jump and long jump. On 13 July 1957 he set a new world record in the high jump at 2.16 m, breaking a 44-year-long dominance of American athletes in this event. In the high jump, Stepanov won the Soviet title in 1954 and 1958 and finished second in 1953 and 1957. Yuriy Stepanov (Soviet Union) set the men's high jump world record of 2.16 m in Leningrad, Soviet Union on July 13, 1957. It stood 2.8 years, until John Thomas's 2.17 m on April 30, 1960. Wiki link