Last year, at the World Champs in Osaka, Carolina Kluft told the assembled media that no one was unbeatable. We tend to forget that in this sport. In doing that, we not only lessen the achievements of our sports heroes, but also the beauty of our sport.
A week after setting a world record of 16 feet, 2 3/4 inches in Donetsk, or 4.95 meters, Yelena Isinbayeva, the Sergei Bubka of the women’s pole vault, lost to compartriot, Svetlana Feofanova of Russia. Isinbeyeva could manage 4.61m and tied for second with Monika Pyrek of Poland, with Feofanova winning at 4.81m.
I have attached the story from fearless correspondent, Bob Ramsak. Remember, streaks ending mean new streaks. The road to Beijing gets even more exciting!
ISINBAYEVA’S WIN STREAK HALTED AT 23
by Bob Ramsak
(c) 2008 TRACK PROFILE Report, all rights reserved
Yelena Isinbayeva’s 23-competition win streak came to an end at the Pedro’s Cup jump competition in Bydgoszcz, Poland, tonight.
The reigning Olympic, World and European champion from Russia could only manage her opening height of 4.61m (15-1 1/2), before missing once at 4.76m (15-7 1/4) and twice at 4.81m (15-9 1/4), to bow out in a tie for second.
Her compatriot Svetlana Feofanova, a former world record holder, won the competition with a first-attempt 4.71m (15-5 1/2) clearance, with Poland’s Monika Pyrek tying Isinbayeva in second.
Isinbayeva’s undefeated streak began at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, Germany, on Sept. 10, 2006, 11 days after a loss, ironically, at the Pedro’s Cup outdoor meet where she failed to clear a height. Her unbeaten streak indoors, at 15 competitions, began in March 2004 when she won her first world indoor title.
Last Saturday, Isinbayeva’ raised her world record indoors to 4.95m (16-2 3/4) at the Pole vault Stars meet in Donetsk, Ukraine, the 20th of her career. Her outdoor world record of 5.01m (16-5 1/4) has stood since August 2005.
The 25-year-old’s streak of 23 was the second longest in the sport, trailing the 25 wins in the 3000m steeplechase by Saif Saaeed Shaheen of Qatar. Next on the list is Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic, the world champion in the high jump, who won her 20th straight meet last Wednesday in her home town of Split.
The competition included a men’s high jump, won by Russian Yaroslav Rybakov, with a 2.34m leap.
ENDS
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