Yelena Isinbayeva prepares for the Pole Vault qualification round (© Getty Images)
As announced by the Russian Athletics Federation, Yelena Isinbayeva, the World Athlete of the Year for a second consecutive occasion, seeking renewed motivation and inspiration to pursue new goals and challenges, has announced that she is changing her coach.
The World and Olympic champion, and the World and European Indoor gold medallist in the Pole Vault, and the IAAF World Ranked Nr. 1 both for that Event and Overall, Isinbayeva made history last July when she became the first woman to successfully clear 5 metres, a World record height which she increased by one centimetre the following month when winning the World title.
The Russian star who has been guided to numerous competition highs by her career long coach, Yevgeni Trofimov, has now appointed Vitaly Petrov as her new consultant.
“In some ways, successfully achieving 5 metres in competition has made this difficult decision easier. That height was a goal that Yevgeni and I had worked so hard to achieve, and now that we have succeeded, it feels natural to look for new targets and new motivation to achieve the next stage in my development,” confirmed Isinbayeva.
Petrov famously guided Sergey Bubka to 35 World records, six World outdoor titles and the Olympic gold medal in Seoul in 1988, and currently coaches 2003 World champion Giuseppe Gibilisco.
