Women’s pole vault final
Five out of the first six finishers in the women’s pole vault improved their personal bests today.
Two athletes cleared the 4-metre winning height Germany’s with gold going to Silke Spiegelburg on countback.
Spiegelburg vaulted over the bar at her second attempt while Russia’s Aleksandra Kiryashova who would eventually be awarded the silver medal, needed three tries to clear the same height.
Spiegelburg had to wait until Poland’s Anna Olko last attempt to celebrate, the Polish having saved one attempt to try and clear 4.05 after two failures at 4.00.
But Olko could not clear the bar and Spiegelburg burst into tears in her compatriot Simone Langhirt’s – fourth place finisher today - arms.
Born in 1986, Spiegelburg was the youngest of today’s finalists and will probably try and claim a second world Youth title in two years time in Canada.
Debrecen’s final can somehow be considered as a revenge for Germany for two years ago in Bydgoczsz, Floe Kuhnert had to settle for silver behind Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva.
A delighted Spiegelburg said after her victory: “I very much surprised myself by breaking my personal best twice in one competition. My dream was to break the German record, which is 4.05 metres, but this time I was unsuccessful, maybe next time.
“I have three brothers and all of us are pole vaulters. The eldest is Richard, who won the German nationals a few weeks ago by breaking his personal record twice.”
