Slovenia’s experienced Tina Šutej won a brilliant bronze medal in the women’s pole vault at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Wednesday (17).
It is the seventh major medal of her decorated career, but the first global outdoor medal for the 36-year-old. She is the oldest ever medallst in the women's pole vault at the World Athletics Championships and only the second Slovenian female after Marija Šestak, who won triple jump bronze in 2007.
Critical clearance at 4.80m
The competition turned at 4.75m, when nine athletes were reduced to just four contenders. Both Šutej and Slovakia’s Amálie Švábíková cleared the height on their third attempts, as several medal favorites faltered-including European champion Angelica Moser of Switzerland.
At that stage, Šutej and Švábíková, who had won at the European Athletics Team Championships 1st Division in Madrid earlier this year, were tied for bronze with identical scorecards.
Meanwhile, the U.S. duo of Sandi Morris and Katie Moon remained flawless and shared the lead for gold.
With the bar raised to 4.80m, both Americans went clear-Morris on her second attempt- and Šutej also succeeded at the second time of asking to tighten her grip on bronze. After two failures, Švábíková made a last-gasp attempt at 4.85m to snatch a medal, but bowed out at that height.
Šutej also tried 4.85m-three centimeters above her lifetime best-but was unsuccessful after three attempts. Even so, the 33-year-old three-times European indoor silver medallist could take great satisfaction in securing bronze.
Moon went on to claim gold with a clearance of 4.90m, while Morris collected her fourth silver medal at the World Athletics Championships.
"Incredible"
"It feels incredible, said Šutej. "At the last two world championships I finished fourth, so finally getting a medal feels amazing. I managed to jump a season's best. I wanted to set the national record tonight but it didn't happen.
"I had a head-wind, stiff poles and I kind of chickened out. I guess I was also happy with a medal at that point. My mind wasn't on it.
"I love athletics. That's why I have been doing it for almost 30 years now. I have a great coach too, and good genetics. My teammates keep telling me I should continue to jump for a long time. I don't know how long but I am not done yet.
"I will probably compete again next year. I will have a long long break now and get to training in November. That's the worst period for me, and if my body survives it, I will be able to get back on the runaway."