Isinbayeva feeling doubtful for Worlds in Moscow

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Isinbayeva Doubtful Over World Champs
19:27 19.02.2013 (Last updated 19:32 19.02.2013)

MOSCOW, February 19 (R-Sport) - Pole vault world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva said Tuesday she doubts she will be fit enough to compete at the world championships in Moscow in August.

Isinbayeva, 30, has skipped the winter season after a tough Olympic year and is focusing on bowing out in style at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

“I don’t want to take a long shot. I’m training, working and hoping for the best,” she said on the Russian athletics federation's website. “It’s difficult to plan anything. Let it be a surprise.”

The Diamond League meeting in Shanghai in May could be the Russian's first competition of the year, she said.

“I don’t have mandatory competitions, nobody puts pressure on me, but I’d like to go to China. There is an event on May 19. The Chinese people like me. I’m super popular there and I’d like to please them with my jumps," she said.

The double Olympic gold medalist said she would compete less often than before due to age.

“When you are under 30 you can jump a lot, but now I have to set priorities, because I can’t spread myself thin,” she said. “Now I prepare for certain events. Most likely, it will be six or seven competitions per season.”

Isinbayeva won gold at the Athens and Beijing Olympics but failed to defend her title in London, finishing third behind Jennifer Suhr of the United States and Cuba’s Yarisley Silva.