• Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Login
  • Register
  • Home
  • Archive
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Archive
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
Home IAAF

World Championships, Day 4: Women’s Pole Vault Report by M. Nicole Nazzaro

RBR AdminbyRBR Admin
August 13, 2013
0
0 0
0
SHARES
1
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The battle for the victory in Moscow, for Yelena Isinbayeva, started last August, when the Russian superstar managed a bronze in London, after only a short , injury-free training period. In listening to Ms. Isinbayeva last year, one was convinced of one thing: If Yelena Isinbayeva was healthy, she was going to win the Moscow World Champs pole vault.


And that she did this evening, to the absolute delight of the Russian crowd, there to see her, and see a piece of history. 

M. Nicole Nazzaro, one of our columnists here, was in St. Denis in 2003 when Yelena won her first World Championship title. It is fitting that Nicole, who speaks Russian, wrote this piece on a superb pole vault competition. We think that you will like it…
Isinbayeva_Elena-Olympic12.jpg                                            Yelena Isinbayeva, London 2012, 
                                                   photo by PhotoRun.net


World Championships, Day 4: Women’s Pole Vault Report
by M. Nicole Nazzaro
 
If it’s Day 4 at the 2013 world championships in track and field, that must mean it’s time for the women’s pole vault finals. We suggest at this juncture that you throw out all of your early conclusions about the attendance figures for the first three days of competition at Luzhniki Stadium, because as the competition got going just after 7:30 p.m. local time tonight, the seating area near the pole vault competition was packed, loud, and lively. And Russian superstar, double Olympic gold medalist Yelena Isinbaeva, hadn’t even taken her first vault yet.
 
The night was set up to be a storybook for the Russian superstar, despite the presence of a formidable group of champions to challenge her. 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jenn Suhr had already broken Isinbaeva’s indoor world record this year. Cuba’s Yarisley Silva, the silver medalist last year in London, had a personal best of 4.90 meters coming into this meet. And Fabiana Murer was the defending world champion from the 2011 Daegu meet.
 
So if Isinbaeva was to triumph, it would be against the highest level of competition possible.
 
It was almost an hour before Isinbaeva took her first vault attempt – a miss at 4.65 meters that sent the highly pro-Russian crowd into convulsions. One would be forgiven for thinking that perhaps Isinbaeva was inspired to succeed this evening to keep her country from having a collective heart attack. Luckily, her second attempt at the height was a success, and for the first time in these championships, the atmosphere inside the stadium truly felt like it was worthy of a world championship meet.
 
Advertisements for this event on the Moscow metro touted the “face to face” matchup between Suhr and Isinbaeva, so it stands to reason that Suhr presented the biggest challenge of the night, confidently making her first vault (4.55 meters) before passing on 4.65 meters. Suhr of all people would know that 4.65 wasn’t going to come close to a medal here so she gamely saved herself for the higher bars.
 
Until the bar hit 4.82 meters, it looked as if Germany’s Silke Spiegelburg was fixing to join her countrymen, gold and bronze medalist men’s vaulters Raphael Holzdeppe and Bjorn Otto, on the medal stand at these championships. She made all of her heights prior to the 4.82-meter effort with just one vault but missed on all three attempts at 4.82. Silva, in contrast, struggled with several vaults, and took three attempts to clear both 4.65 and 4.82 meters.
 
The next height decided the championship. Isinbaeva floated over 4.89 meters in one attempt, sending the stadium (and the television commentators broadcasting the meet live in Russia) into predictable hysterics. Isinbaeva acted as though she has won right there and then, running across the track while the women’s steeplechase final was still being run to wave to her supporters in the stands. In the meantime, Suhr tried gamely to face the bar.
 
“I was pretty prepared with what to expect,” Suhr said afterward. “I knew it was going to be a crowd in favor of Elena.” Suhr groaned when she was dealt the second seed, meaning that she would vault directly after Isinbaeva in this final. “It was like, all the cheers for her, and then, where’d they go [when I vaulted]?” Suhr said with a smile afterwards. It was just Isinbaeva’s night.
 
Both Suhr and Silva missed all three attempts at 4.89 meters, and Suhr slid ahead of Silva for the silver medal based on misses at lower heights.
 
Afterwards, while Isinbaeva took care of a legion of television requests, both the silver and bronze medalists professed to be pleased with the final results.
 
Suhr: “I’m really happy to be part of the competition. I’m happy with the silver. I have to look back at the year – Olympic gold, a world record indoors, and a world silver. That’s a lot for a year. I’m pretty tired now; it’s been quite a year.”
 
Silva: “I knew coming into this competition that the competition would be very difficult. I’m extremely happy with my bronze medal. Actually, it feels like gold! In qualifying I thought I might not actually make [the final], and in the final at times I didn’t know if I would be able to get a medal. I’m happy with the way I was able to fight and come back and get this medal. I’m even more happy because this makes history for my country – a silver medal at the Olympics, and a bronze medal here.  I’m very happy about this.”
 
And then, after Silva and Suhr had left the interview room and the hour approached midnight, the “queen of the vault,” as one journalist described her, arrived to her coronation. Isinbaeva, who finished her night by taking three unsuccessful attempts at an outdoor world record of 5.07 meters, giddily answered questions in both Russian and English. She confirmed that she is not yet retiring but will take a break to have a child after this competition season and will re-evaluate after that. She complimented Silva – “already now she shows herself as a strong rival, she is a very good jumper with 4.90 [meters]” – and she gave everyone a history lesson, lest anyone think that she was not the most dominant vaulter in the history of the women’s event:
 
“Of course I consider myself the best!” she said. “I achieved three outdoor and [many] indoor world titles, two Olympic gold, one Olympic bronze…I don’t think anyone else has the same [accomplishments].”
 
In Russian, she rattled off a list of things she planned to do in the coming days that was so long as to sound exhausting just to think about it. Remember that Isinbaeva is one of Russia’s true crossover stars, and seeing her seize the opportunity to win the first world championship ever contested on her home soil, at what must be at least the beginning of the final chapter of her career, was a moment both historical and cultural. She is revered here in a way that American track athletes of a bygone era were in their prime.  She is Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Mary Decker Slaney wrapped up in a modern 21st century package.
 
And make no mistake, the very large Russian crowd on hand tonight at Luzhinki came to watch her. One imagines they got their money’s worth.

RelatedPosts

The RunBlogrun Interview: Asafa Powell, Working on the Little Imperfections, (from the Archives, January 6, 2008)

Ferdinand Omanyala, 2022 Commonwealth Games Champion, 2022 African Athletics Champion, the audio interview

The Most Excellent Adventures of Des Linden

Author

  • RBR Admin
    RBR Admin

    View all posts

Previous Post

Moscow Diary, Day Three, Quote of Day, Result of Day, Surprise of Day, by Alfons Juck, note by Larry Eder

Next Post

2013 World Outdoor Track & Field Championships / Moscow Notebook, Distance Gladiators Prepare For 5000 War by Dave Hunter

RBR Admin

RBR Admin

Similar Post

2023 RunBlogRun Spring Training for the Middle Distances, 800m to 5,000m, Week Eleven, Day 3, Wednesday is recovery day

2023 RunBlogRun Spring Training for the Middle Distances, 800m to 5,000m, Week Eleven, Day 5, Friday is for recovery…

May 27, 2023
Coffee With Larry, Live from Luskin Conference Center, the day 1 of USATF LA Grand Prix is upon us!

Coffee With Larry, Live from Luskin Conference Center, the day 1 of USATF LA Grand Prix is upon us!

May 27, 2023
Athletics find its next global rivalry in Kerley vs Jacobs, but can it be worth our while? 
2023 Wanda Diamond League

Marcell Jacobs, citing back injury, is out of Rabat Men’s 100 meters, Mia Sorgia…

May 26, 2023
Why we should be scared of Noah Lyles 2.0
2023 World Athletics Championships

Witness the Wonder, World Outdoor Athletics Budapest 2023, Day 38: Five athletes from the U.S. who should be on the podium in Budapest!

May 26, 2023
Coffee with Larry, Rabat DL, flying to LA LA land, Big meet at UCLA, Eric Jenkins retires
Coffee With Larry

Coffee with Larry, Rabat DL, flying to LA LA land, Big meet at UCLA, Eric Jenkins retires

May 26, 2023
Coffee With Larry, Bermuda GP on Sunday, Night of 10,000m PBs on Saturday, Witness the wonder story #30!

2023 RunBlogRun Spring Training for the Middle Distances, 800m-5000m, Week Eleven, Day 4, Thursday track session

May 25, 2023

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Subscribe to RunBlogRun's Global News Feed

Wake up to RunBlogRun’s news in your inbox. Sign up for our newsletter and we’ll keep you informed about the Sport you love.

*we hate spam as much as you do

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
USATF / Day Four:  USA’s Assembled Team Is Ready!

Abby Steiner replies via twitter, on the curiosity about her new professional running contract

July 5, 2022
What happened to the crowd at Eugene?

What happened to the crowd at Eugene?

July 17, 2022
2022 USATF Outdoor Champs: Melissa Jefferson takes the Women’s 100m title in windy 10.69!

The curious case of Sha’Carri Richardson: How can the sprinter turn around her career?

February 8, 2023

(RBR Archives) Coaching 101: Warm Up & Cool Down for the Jumps, by Roy Stevenson, note by Larry Eder

April 1, 2022
What happened to the crowd at Eugene?

What happened to the crowd at Eugene?

6
Asafa Powell, Considering Longevity in Sprinting

The RunBlogrun Interview: Asafa Powell

5
2022 Munich Diary, Day Five, a Great Friday Night

2023 European Athletics Indoor Champs, The Women’s 60m, who will win the final tonight?

5
TCS New York City Marathon Broadcast to be Available in More Than 530 Million Homes Around the World on Sunday, November 6

RunblogRun Editorial: The Sorry State of Running Television Coverage, by Peter Abraham, note by Larry Eder

4
2023 RunBlogRun Spring Training for the Middle Distances, 800m to 5,000m, Week Eleven, Day 3, Wednesday is recovery day

2023 RunBlogRun Spring Training for the Middle Distances, 800m to 5,000m, Week Eleven, Day 5, Friday is for recovery…

May 27, 2023
Coffee With Larry, Live from Luskin Conference Center, the day 1 of USATF LA Grand Prix is upon us!

Coffee With Larry, Live from Luskin Conference Center, the day 1 of USATF LA Grand Prix is upon us!

May 27, 2023
Athletics find its next global rivalry in Kerley vs Jacobs, but can it be worth our while? 

Marcell Jacobs, citing back injury, is out of Rabat Men’s 100 meters, Mia Sorgia…

May 26, 2023
Why we should be scared of Noah Lyles 2.0

Witness the Wonder, World Outdoor Athletics Budapest 2023, Day 38: Five athletes from the U.S. who should be on the podium in Budapest!

May 26, 2023

Popular Stories

  • USATF / Day Four:  USA’s Assembled Team Is Ready!

    Abby Steiner replies via twitter, on the curiosity about her new professional running contract

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • What happened to the crowd at Eugene?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The curious case of Sha’Carri Richardson: How can the sprinter turn around her career?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • (RBR Archives) Coaching 101: Warm Up & Cool Down for the Jumps, by Roy Stevenson, note by Larry Eder

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Oregon 22 World Athletics Champs: False Starts reconsidered

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Recent Tweets

Next Post

2013 World Outdoor Track & Field Championships / Moscow Notebook, Distance Gladiators Prepare For 5000 War by Dave Hunter

runblogrun

RunBlogRun comments on the global world of athletics, sports & ethics, and the Olympic movement. @runblogrun

Browse by Category

Newsletter

Subscribe to our mailing list to receives daily updates direct to your inbox!

  • Home
  • Archive
  • Contact Us

© 2022 Run Blog Run - All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Home page
  • My Account
  • Sample Page

© 2022 Run Blog Run - All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

Select a password for yourself. (minimum length of 8)

Paste here the user biography.

Provide here the twitter screen name. i.e. @RunBlogRun

Provide here the instagram screen name. i.e. @RunBlogRun

Provide here the facebook profile URL. i.e. http://www.facebook.com/RunBlogRun

Provide here the linkedin profile URL. i.e. https://www.linkedin.com/in/larry-eder-5497253

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist