Isinbayeva targets ‘pole’ gold
MOSCOW—Yelena Isinbayeva, the greatest women’s pole vaulter of all time, gears up for a lift from her home crowd in what will probably be the Russian’s last major championship final on Tuesday.
Isinbayeva, who holds the outdoor world record of 5.06 meters and was virtually unbeatable in the discipline between 2003 and 2008, has not won a global title since Olympic gold five years ago in Beijing.
The 31-year-old had said she will end her illustrious career after the competition at the Luzhniki stadium, although she rowed back from that after qualifying by saying her mind was not yet made up.
In other events, Shelly-Ann FraserPryce obliterated the field as Jamaica completed a 100m double at the world championships.
The United States had four athletes in the final for the first time, including defending champion Carmelita Jeter, but they had no answer to Fraser- Pryce, who took gold with the biggest winning margin in world championships history.
It was a second world title for the 26-year-old, who also won in 2009, and followed hot on the heels of compatriot Usain Bolt’s victory in the men’s final on Sunday.
In the 20-km walk, Russians Elena Lashmanova and Anisya Kirdyapkina clinched a 1-2 finish in the women’s event to add to the host nation’s win in the men’s side. Reuters