Women's World Records Since 1997

[roger/over]

Becca's post, "Isinbayeva's World Records Ratified," quotes a news source that stated, "Overall, she has set 18 world records indoor and outdoor."

That, of course, sent me to my files to see whether I had all of those listed. I found only 17, so I wonder where I might have missed one. It's easy to do, since the 1997 rule change that permitted absolute world records to be set indoors as well as outdoors, but preserves indoor or outdoor record successions, even when the height is not an absolute world record. I believe there was a bit of a fumble with that originally, when provision was made for Indoor World Records, but not Outdoor World Records; but I think the latter category now has been added with effect to 1997. For starters, I'd appreciate correction of any errors I've made in those definitions. I'd also appreciate confirmation that the 1997 rule change had effect from the beginning of the year, since that might affect one of Dragila's indoor marks.

I think the easiest way for someone to spot the missing Isinbayeva 18th world record for me would be if I list the records succession since 1997 as I have it. Because the PVP format doesn't permit tab-stops to maintain columns, this may be a little difficult to decypher, so I'd appreciate your patience. In my list, WR means an absolute World Record, WIR an Indoor World Record that is lower than the absolute record, and WOR an Outdoor World Record that is lower than the absolute record. I've included Emma George's marks as the world bests at the beginning of 1997. I'll also append a brief list of Dragila marks that were better than existing records but not ratified.

4.40i Emma George (AUS) 1996-12-10 Melbourne WIR
4.60 Emma George (AUS) 1999-02-20 Sydney WR


4.40i Stacy Dragila (USA) 1997-03-09 Paris WIR=
4.48i Stacy Dragila (USA) 1998-03-08 Sindelfingen WIR
4.60 Stacy Dragila (USA) 1999-08-21 Sevilla, ESP WR=
4.57i en Stacy Dragila (USA) 2000-02-19 Pocatello WIR
4.61i Stacy Dragila (USA) 2000-02-19 Pocatello WR
4.62i Stacy Dragila (USA) 2000-03-03 Atlanta WR
4.63 Stacy Dragila (USA) 2000-07-23 Sacramento WR
4.63i Stacy Dragila (USA) 2001-02-02 New York WR
4.64i Svetlana Feofanova (RUS) 2001-02-11 Dortmund WR
4.66i en Stacy Dragila (USA) 2001-02-17 Pocatello WR
4.70i Stacy Dragila (USA) 2001-02-17 Pocatello WR
4.65en Stacy Dragila (USA) 2001-04-27 Pocatello WOR
4.70 Stacy Dragila (USA) 2001-04-27 Pocatello WR=
4.71 Stacy Dragila (USA) 2001-06-09 Palo Alto WR
4.81 Stacy Dragila (USA) 2001-06-09 Palo Alto WR
4.71i Svetlana Feofanova (RUS) 2002-02-03 Stuttgart WIR
4.72i Svetlana Feofanova (RUS) 2002-02-06 Stockholm WIR
4.73i Svetlana Feofanova (RUS) 2002-02-10 Ghent WIR
4.74i Svetlana Feofanova (RUS) 2002-02-24 Lievin WIR
4.75i Svetlana Feofanova (RUS) 2002-03-03 Vienna WIR
4.76i Svetlana Feofanova (RUS) 2003-02-02 Glasgow WIR
4.77i Svetlana Feofanova (RUS) 2003-02-21 Birmingham WIR
4.78i Stacy Dragila (USA) 2003-03-02 Boston WIR
4.80i Svetlana Feofanova (RUS) 2003-03-16 Birmingham WIR
4.82 Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2003-07-13 Gateshead WR
4.81i en Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2004-02-15 Donetsk WIR
4.83i Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2004-02-15 Donetsk WR
4.85i Svetlana Feofanova (RUS) 2004-02-22 Athína WR
4.86i Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2004-03-06 Budapest WR
4.87 Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2004-06-27 Gateshead WR
4.88 Svetlana Feofanova (RUS) 2004-07-04 Iráklio WR
4.89 Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2004-07-25 Birmingham WR
4.90 Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2004-07-30 London WR
4.91 Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2004-08-24 Athina WR
4.92 Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2004-09-03 Bruxelles WR
4.87i Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2005-02-12 Donetsk WIR
4.88i Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2005-02-18 Birmingham WIR
4.89i Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2005-02-25 Lievin WIR
4.90i Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2005-03-06 Madrid WIR
4.93 Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2005-07-05 Lausanne WR
4.95 Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2005-07-16 Madrid WR
5.00 Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2005-07-22 London WR
5.01 Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2005-08-12 Helsinki WR

Record-bettering performances not ratified:

4.60 Stacy Dragila (USA) 2000-05-21 Modesto (no application from USATF)
4.62 Stacy Dragila (USA) 2000-05-26 Phoenix (delayed drug test)
4.70 Stacy Dragila (USA) 2000-06-11 Santa Barbara ("beach vault")
4.65i Stacy Dragila (USA) 2001-02-09 Pocatello (exhibition as "guest" at college meet)

[roger/over]

Sorry. When I copied the records, I used a file that included marks since 1997 only of Dragila, Feofanova and Isinbayeva and omitted several post-1997 records of Emma George. The list to 2000 should be:

4.40i Emma George (AUS) 1996-12-10 Melbourne WIR
4.45 Emma George (AUS) 1996-07-14 Sapporo WR

4.50 Emma George (AUS) 1997-02-08 Melbourne WR
4.55 Emma George (AUS) 1997-02-20 Melbourne WR
4.40i Stacy Dragila (USA) 1997-03-09 Paris WIR=
4.57 Emma George (AUS) 1998-02-21 Auckland WR
4.48i Stacy Dragila (USA) 1998-03-08 Sindelfingen WIR
4.58 Emma George (AUS) 1998-03-14 Melbourne WR
4.59 Emma George (AUS) 1998-03-21 Brisbane WR
4.60 Emma George (AUS) 1999-02-20 Sydney WR
4.60 Emma George (AUS) 1999-02-20 Sydney WR
4.60 Stacy Dragila (USA) 1999-08-21 Sevilla WR=

[BruceFlorman]

I found only 17, so I wonder where I might have missed one.

4.95 Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2005-07-16 Madrid WR
5.00 Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2005-07-22 London WR
5.01 Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 2005-08-12 Helsinki WR

I believe the one you're missing was one of the records just ratified. She jumped 4.96 in London a few minutes before jumping 5.00.

[roger/over]

Bingo! And thanks much for pointing to the en-route 4.96m. I should have read Becca's post more carefully, but it's a good example of a type of mark that's hard to find, if you don't notice it in the meet scoresheet. It still isn't shown on the IAAF Top Ten list, or in Jalava's Performances List; although, given your encouragement to check the London results more carefully, I found it in the scoresheet with Isinbayeva's bio on Jalava's site.