Bydgoszcz (Pedro's Cup) - Isi 4.84, Feofanova 4.74

[BruceFlorman]

Sigh ... no wild celebration in Bydgoszcz. Oh well, Birmingham's Saturday, and it's supposed to be on WCSN.

[BruceFlorman]

There's a ton of photos from the meet on their website now: http://www.pedroscup.pl/pl/news/galeria ... z2007.html

There's also video on YouTube of Isi's 4.84 jump: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtsqGlnJfBk

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.iaaf.org/news/Kind=2/newsId=37605.html

Isinbayeva marvellous in Bydgoszcz but no further increase to record
Thursday 15 February 2007
Bydgoszcz, Poland - After failing all attempts to better her own 4-day-old World indoor record, Russia’s World, Olympic and European Pole Vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva still ended up the winner of the Pedro’s Cup competition in Bydgoszcz last night (14).

Isinbayeva – 4.84 on first attempt

Yelena Isinbayeva competed in Bydgoszcz four days after setting her 20th World record in Donetsk. She kept in mind her unsuccessful appearance in August in Warsaw, also at the Pedro’s Cup meeting, when rain prevented her from jumping even the first height. Isinbayeva promised to make an effort to set her 21st World record (in Poland number 21 is as lucky as 7).

Isinabayeva began with a marvellous clearance at 4.64m. She missed her first attempt at 4.74, the height which her compatriot Svetlana Feofanova, the former World champion cleared easily. As a result Isinbayeva moved her other attempts to 4.84m. Vaulting this height on the first attempt gave her the victory, and then three attempts at 4.94m followed. All of them were quite good, but unfortunately unsuccessful. A tired Isinbayeva was too slow on the last part of the run-up to give her a better vault.




Yelena Isinbayeva and Svetlana Feofanova of Russia
(Getty Images)

After the competition the Russian confirmed that she will not change her plans, and so will certainly miss the European Indoor Championships next month. Her most important competition of the year is going to be the outdoor World Championships in Osaka, Japan, this summer.

Feofanova back in top shape

Feofanova is getting back to shape, and although she lost during the Russian indoor championships (jumping 4.60), in Bydgoszcz she cleared 4.74 what is her best result since the Olympic Games in Athens. She vaulted her first height of 4.44 on the third attempt but after that she improved her run-up and impressed with a dose of dynamism.

Enthusiastic cheers for home favourite Anna Rogowska almost helped her to clear 4.74. The Pole is doing better and better this season after last year’s trouble with her health (she skipped the European Championships in Gothenburg). In Isinbayeva’s absence she will be one of the favourites for the European indoor title in Birmingham, and this weekend she will have the opportunity to take her first ever Polish indoor championship.