Helsinki 2005 – Highlights, Day 7

[Ryan]

Helsinki, Finland - Yelena Isinbayeva made the women’s Pole Vault look like a demonstration event on the first pleasant evening of weather for a week.

The Russian World record holder cleared her attempts at 4.50, 4.60 and 4.70 metres by so much that she could have done a couple of back flips and scored points for style in landing.  Even when she missed her first attempt at another World record of 5.01 metres, she bounced up smiling from the landing mattress. It could have been embarrassment, but you rather felt it was the conviction that she could do it and, in passing, win $100,000, to add to the pot of close to a million bucks that she has built up over the last two seasons, during which she also won the Olympic title.  And so it proved, over she went at the second attempt, and a World gold was added to the collection.

For the record, Monika Pyrek of Poland and Pavla Hamackova of the Czech Republic won silver and bronze with 4.60 and 4.50 metres.

IAAF article