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http://www.iaaf.org/WCH05/news/Kind=2/newsId=31581.html

5.01m Pole Vault WORLD RECORD - Guess who?

Friday 12 August 2005

Helsinki, Finland - She stood on the runway as the clapping started and jigged her left leg. Then her right. She stopped. She waited. She looked to the ground. She said a few words. And then she raised the pole in the air.

The clapping grew in momentum and by the time Yelena Isinbayeva had taken off, the noise was at a crescendo and by the time she had cleared the world record height, she was leaping in the air almost before she hit the ground.

Now, where were we? Was it Athens, Madrid, London, Lausanne. No, this time it was Helsinki and the 10th IAAF World Championships in Athletics but to the greatest woman pole vaulter in history it does not seem to matter.

Pick a venue, name a championship and there is one sure fire certainty it seems these days that the brilliant Russian is going to break the World record. And what is it about Friday's? Did someone in Hollywood once say there were Freaky?

Well, you could make a movie about the life of this supreme athlete and the only person she would be swapping roles with would be Sergei Bubka. Because, in the way that the great Ukrainian dominated the men's pole vault, so she is in command of the women's.

Three weeks ago, on a Friday at the Norwich Union Grand Prix in London, she achieved what many thought was impossible - she cracked the five metres barrier.

But here at the IAAF World Championships, she went a centimetre better than her 5 metres World record, and she did it with much to spare, though slightly brushed it on the way down.

How high can she take it? The way she is jumping now, she can take it as high as she probably wants.

She did not enter the competition until the bar reached 4.50m and she cleared that with so much ease, that you sensed she was in the sort of mood that we have become used to seeing her.

But what makes her stand out, and makes her arguably the biggest woman star in the sport today, is that she brings such panache to her event. She is always smiling on the runway, always appreciating the support of the crowd and always delivering.

A year ago at the Olympic Games, she broke the World record by clearing 4.91m but now she has taken it onto such a different level, that the competition is not between her and her rivals but between her and the bar. And at the moment, the further the bar is climbing, the easier Isinbayeva is going after it.

The event, because of the way Isinbayeva brings so much drama to it, has topped the bill so often, because indoors or out, she has an ability to win gold and break the World record.

But in typical fashion, Isinbayeva thanked all those around her. There is nothing flashy about her. She still drives a Skoda car and has been living with her parents in Volgograd.

She said: "I want to thank my dearest; mother, father and sister and all those who are close and love me. I can only be extremely happy for this performance."

"I'm extremely happy and satisfied with the world record and the gold medal in the World Championships. I was very concerned about the weather this morning. But I am a positive and a smiling person and I'm sure it helps me a lot."

"Today the World record height seemed to be extremely high. It was really difficult to jump at that height. I'm sure I'll be able to clear 5.02m still during this season. Anyhow, Helsinki was my main competition this year and my training was aimed for this competition. Becoming a World Champion was not a dream, but the target.

"I will relax this evening, maybe I'll go to some night club and dance."

Poland's Monika Pyrek took silver with 4.60m while Pavla Hamackova, of the Czech Republic, won bronze with 4.50m. But from 4.70m onwards, there was only one woman in it and few will forget the way she won her first World Championship gold medal.

Samuel Peters for the IAAF

I think our girls need to get on some ESSX poles Bruce!

But Jill is already on some. But I guess that our girls need to have an awesome day too.

Scott Go Pre wrote:I think our girls need to get on some ESSX poles Bruce!

But Jill is already on some. But I guess that our girls need to have an awesome day too.

Well our girls are on ESSX

but when the poles lay on the ground they do nothing, it takes a talented person to pick them up and use them as any pole brand.

I am not saying that it is a brand issue, I think it is speed and how it is converted at the take-off plus attitude!!!

US GIRLS NEED NEW LEGS

I think it's a lot of the mental atitude from us using the english system. Girls look to 15' rather than 5.00 just like men look at 19' then 6.00, or so it seems. I think Yelena definatly catches more energy out of her 20-25 pound spread, but I think she sets up for it better than we do. He complete vault just looks comfortable to her, she knows where she is at all times, and is in complete control. That's my two cents at least.

My question, is how high do you think she will peak out at?

History has shown in other events, after the intial boom of WRs, the women record ends up being about 90% of the mens (i.e. 100m W=10.49, i think, men's is 9.77) which right now puts it at like 5.54... seems awfully high. I'm gonna say about 5.15, maybe 5.20. It would be sweet to see her jump 5.18 and break 17'...

I forgot, anyone have any video clips of it?

Lax PV wrote: I'm gonna say about 5.15, maybe 5.20. It would be sweet to see her jump 5.18 and break 17'...

I bet she does it indoors this next season

I think we need a women's development staff like the men have.

ESSX wrote:I am not saying that it is a brand issue, I think it is speed and how it is converted at the take-off plus attitude!!!

Ditto!! Speed, Effeciency, and a solid belief that it can be done... that it will be done.

I think the current US women still lag behind in technical development. Some of our current top competitors didn't even jump in high school. I'll discuss Stacy since she's the American who seems to me to be the closest to Isinbayeva.
I could see Dragila having jumped over 16 feet if she had made significant technical changes. Regardless of how much higher Isinbayeva may hold than Dragila, Stacy consistantly takes off under and doesn't swing upside down as well as Isinbayeva. Personally, I believe that Isinbayeva completely utilizes a Petrov-style pole drop and runup and that this is what sets her apart from other top athletes such as Dragila.
My last thought on why Petrov-style technique--especially in the runup which seems to be the most important phase of the vault-- is the answer to why we lag behind Isinbayeva and co. is that Suhr's female vaulters seem to have had tremendous success with it.

sjsvaulter wrote:Suhr's female vaulters seem to have had tremendous success with it.

Too bad they didn't compete at Nationals.

sjsvaulter wrote:I think the current US women still lag behind in technical development.

bingo. Its not that Yelena is bigger, faster, or stronger than anyone else, she's just a far superior technical vaulter than the rest of the women in the world right now (although Feofanova and Rogowska are getting there). I think that she's the first woman to actually master all phases of the vault. This is why she can consistently puts up huge jumps and makes it look easy. The comparisons people make to Bubka are obvious.

My opinion is that there are numerous ways to get a person over a crossbar using a fiberglass pole. I know the technical model that I teach and (attempt) to use, but i'm always open to exploring ways of going higher and making my kids and mysekf better vaulters. i think part of the problem in the US is that there are too many coaches who have "their way" of vaulting which may or may not be the best way to teach it.