Next stop Helsinki for Boslak's career comeback

French pole vaulter Vanessa Boslak, a silver medallist at the world indoors in Istanbul in March, is eyeing a medal at the 2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki this summer.

French pole vaulter Vanessa Boslak has targeted the 2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki as a vital part of her comeback programme in a career resurrected by a vital knee surgery 18 months' ago.

Boslak made a successful return to action after three years' absence when she won silver behind Yelena Isinbayeva at the 2012 World Indoor Championships and now aims to make up for lost time by participating in as many international events as possible.

'The European Championships, the Olympic Games and other high-profile meetings are on my agenda,' she said. 'I want to take part in them all and compete at the highest possible level.'

Boslak was speaking on the eve of the opening Diamond League meeting of 2012 in Doha and it was in the Qatari capital a year and a half ago that Boslak received knee surgery after three failed operations.

'It's a great feeling being back in Qatar,' said Boslak. 'I had successful knee surgery in Doha a year and a half ago and I feel like I am having a second career now.

'I am grateful to the Doha doctors and I will not stop working hard to achieve the best I can.

'I am physically and mentally strong to do my best now,' she added. 'I am obviously very glad with my comeback and my aim is always a top performance and winning medals.'

Boslak will compete against a number of her European rivals in Doha, including the meeting record holder Silke Spiegelburg of Germany, Poland's two-times world silver medalist Monika Pyrek, and Yuliya Golubchikova, the 2009 European indoor champion.