Russian pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva clears 4.89m to win third World Championships gold
Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva, easily the greatest women’s pole vaulter of all time, won her third and most probably last gold medal at the World Athletics Championships last night with a jump of 4.89m.
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The Russian, who announced before this meet that she would retire from the sport, needed to log her season’s best leap for the gold medal.
The two-time Olympic champions and world outdoor record holder won gold after American Olympic champion Jennifer Suhr and Cuban Yarisley Silva both failed to clear 4.89m, with Suhr claiming silver on countback from Silva after both had cleared 4.82m. Suhr had beaten Isinbayeva to the gold medal last year at the London Olympics.
The 31-year-old Russian, the first woman to clear the 5m barrier in the sport, enjoyed some great home support as the spectators egged her on to clinch first position.