Isinbayeva Vaults to Another Record

Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva has tried several times to clear 5.02 meters and break her own world pole vault record of 5.01, set in 2005. At the July 11 Golden League 2008 event in Rome, however, Isinbayeva changed her strategy. Since she’d failed to clear 5.02, she tried for 5.03 and, on her second attempt, succeeded in setting a new world mark (pending the standard IAAF verification procedures).

In Isinbayeva’s first competition of the season, she cleared 4.70 and 4.85 easily, then topped 4.95 on her second attempt, prior to her record-breaking vault.

Next Tuesday (July 22), Isinbayeva will face off with U.S. champion Jenn Stuczynski for the first time this year, at the DN Galan in Stockholm, which is a part of the IAAF World Athletics Tour. The pair will likely enter the Olympics as the top two gold medal favorites.