Pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva, one of the most familiar faces in contemporary athletics, staged a magnificent return to competition after a gap of nearly 11 months and cleared a world-leading 4.81m at the Russian Winter indoor meeting in Moscow on Sunday.
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| Yelena Isinbayeva cleared an impressive 4.81m, on her return after an 11-month hiatus, at an indoor meeting in Moscow on Sunday. |
It was a quick day’s work for the two-time European Athlete of the Year. She entered the competition at 4.61m, the height at which her remaining opponents departed, a height which she cleared with her first attempt.
She then went over 4.81m at the first time of asking before failing three times at 4.91m.
'I was away from competition for nearly a year. I must admit I missed it, I missed the atmosphere, the adrenalin, the nerves, everything and I am very happy to be back,” said the delighted and rather relieved Isinbayeva.
'I did everything what myself and my coach (Vitaly Petrov) had set out to do today. I just had the world's best result this year.
“I'm getting most of my competitive feelings back and I don't think it will take me long before I could start going for world records again,” she added.
Isinbayeva’s next competition will be in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, a European Athletics Indoor Permit Meeting, on Saturday and she will also be in Stockholm on February 22.
The 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships, which will be held in Paris from 4-6 March, is also on her agenda.
Russia’s 2010 European Athletics Championships gold medallist Svetlana Feofanava was a distant second behind Isinbayeva with 4.56m while third place was shared by Russia’s Aleksandra Kiryashova and Czech Republic’s Jirina Ptácniková, who also cleared 4.56m.
The jumping events also provided many of the other highlights of the IAAF Indoor Permit Meeting in the Russian capital.
High jumper Ivan Ukhov, who cleared a world-leading 2.38m just over a week ago, again showed his consistency by going over 2.34m before failing at a Russian record of 2.41m.
Once again, the 2010 European Athletics Championships silver medallist turned the tables on the man who beat him in Barcelona as his compatriot and European champion Aleksandr Shustov got over 2.31m for second place but could go no higher.
Russia’s 2009 European Athletics Junior Championships women’s long jump gold medallist Darya Klishina leapt 6.82m with her first attempt to win her specialist event, her winning distance being the second best mark in the world this year.
Klishina also had supporting jumps of 6.77m and 6.76m in later rounds, which would also have won the competition.
“I’m quite satisfied by my victory. It is only the beginning and, I think, a good one.” she commented.
Anna Nazarova, who leads the world this year with 6.89m, had to settle for second this time with 6.75m while Yulia Pidluzhnaya got third with an indoor personal best of 6.70m.
In the men’s long jump, Russia’s 2011 world leader Aleksandr Menkov - who emulated his team mate Klishina and also won a gold medal in Novi Sad two years ago and who has jumped 8.17m this winter - leapt 8.01m to win by five centimetres from his compatriot Pavel Shalin.
Czech hurdler Petr Svoboda won the 60m hurdles in 7.61, faster than any other European has managed this year although he himself ran 7.55 recently, but was far from happy despite the win.
“The result is not that good. I still have problems with my technique. It prevents me from attacking the first hurdles,” reflected the favourite for the European indoor title in four weeks time.
American hurdler Danielle Carruthers took the women’s 60m hurdles in 7.94 with Russia’s Aleksandra Antonova pushing her but finishing second in 8.00.
The 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships 400m gold medallist Antonina Krivoshapka ran two laps in 51.98, the second fastest time by a European this year, to win from Czech Republic’s Denisa Rosolová, who improved her indoor best to 52.21.
Russian athletes stood on top of the podium after both shot put events. Maksim Sidorov produced an indoor personal best of 20.56m, with Ivan Yushkov second with 20.15, while 23-year-old Irina Tarasova won the women’s shot put with her opening effort of 18.04m.
At the non-championship and rarely run distance of 1000m, 21-year-old Yelena Arzhakova ran 2:35.21 to lead the world this year and also set a Russian women’s under 23 record.
The women’s 800m world leader Yuliya Rusanova produced a good result in the 600m, another unusual distance at major meetings, when she ran 1:24.02.
The 2010 European Athletics Championships 800m gold medallist Mariya Savinova, who was just having the outing to test her fitness and confirmed she will miss the forthcoming Russian indoor championships and European Athletics Indoor Championships, finished second in 1:26.23.