ROME -- Russian Yelena Isinbayeva improved her own pole
vault world record Friday, jumping 16 feet, 6 inches at the Golden
Gala meet.
The Russian cleared the record height (5.03 meters) with ease on
her second attempt, nearly three years after her previous record of
16-5¼ (5.01 meters) at the 2005 world championships in Helsinki,
Finland.
"I was ready for a world record; my goal today was to beat the
world record," she said. "In Rome, there are great facilities,
and the crowd is fantastic; I wanted to do something for them."
Competing in her first outdoor meet this season, Isinbayeva's
record stands as a sharp retort to American pole vaulter Jenn
Stuczynski, who cleared 16-0¾ (4.90) on May 18 to move into
second on the all-time list.
Isinbayeva said she was propelled to the new mark by Stuczynski
and the feeling the American was eclipsing her.
"Everybody was saying 'Ah OK, Isinbayeva is finished, we have a
new star,"' she said at a news conference. "So today I was really
angry."
The two will face each other in August at the Beijing Olympics.
Isinbayeva said she had worked hard to overcome the physical and
psychological problems that stopped her from improving on the
record since 2005.
"I'm stronger now, I run faster and jump higher, but the most
important thing is my mind. I'm happy, I'm quiet now, I want to
jump," she said. "Before I had problems, and the pole vault was
somewhere in the back of my mind."
The 26-year-old Russian has dominated the pole vault since
winning the 2004 Olympic title. She has set 12 world records
outdoors and 10 indoors, and is the only woman ever to clear 5
meters -- 16-4¾.
Her career goal is to eclipse Sergei Bubka's mark of 35 world
records.
With all the other events long finished, Isinbayeva got the
faithful fans involved by putting her hands together to get the
crowd clapping to a beat.
She doused her hands in chalk, raised her pole high toward the
sky and dashed down the runway. When she came down with a new world
record, she leaped into the arms of her new coach Vitaly Petrov,
who used to coach the great Sergei Bubka, then draped herself in a
Russian flag.
Isinbayeva trains in nearby Formia, south of Rome, and spoke to
the crowd in Italian to celebrate, telling them "grazie" [thank
you] for the support.
Friday's jump "was not even close to the bar," she told
reporters, stressing she can improve upon the record. "It's just
the beginning."