After missing selection for both Birmingham and Paris this year, Russia’s Tanya Polnova had her revenge when she won the women’s Pole Vault competition at the World Athletics Final this afternoon, to beat the World Champion, indoor and outdoor, her compatriot Svetlana Feofanova.
With a personal best of 4.70 metres achieved this year, Polnova cleared 4.68 at her second attempt for victory here, as second-placed Feofanova managed a best clearance of 4.60 metres before failing twice at 4.68 and a final failure a 4.73.
Early departures included the current world record holder and World Championships bronze medallist, Yelena Isinbayeva who, after clearing 4.40 at her first attempt had three failures at 4.50, and Germany’s Annicka Becker, silver medallist in Paris, who cleared 4.40 at her third attempt but was also unable to clear 4.50.
Stacy Dragila (USA) was clear at 4.25, 4.40 and 4.50 at her first attempts, but had three failures at 4.60, as did Poland’s Monika Pyrek . Dragila took third place on countback.
