One jump is enough for Yelena Isinbayeva to take victory in the women's vault (© Getty Images)
Could Yelena Isinbayeva’s four year reign as World champion finally be coming to an end? Well, maybe, just maybe.
Isinbayeva has looked virtually invincible since snaring the first of her two Olympic titles in Athens in 2004 yet the Russian queen of the Pole Vault runway has looked decidedly human this campaign.
Her season’s best mark is, for her, a modest 4.85m – some 0.20 shy of her World record mark. She also suffered defeat – a first in 19 competitions – to Anna Rogowska in her final pre-Berlin outing in London and has struggled to find her old sparkle. Yet nobody, but nobody should write off the 27-year-old from Volgograd. She remains a fiercely proud and resilient competitor.
Her ‘modest’ 4.85m in Rome tops the world lists and she also boasts the second highest clearance this year with 4.83m in Berlin. And yet the door has never been so ajar for the opposition to pounce, but just who can take advantage of Isinbayeva’s perceived vulnerability in Berlin?
The Olympic silver medallist Jennifer Stuczynski was the one woman to seriously challenge the Russian’s dominance last season. Stuczynski is unbeaten this calendar year and her best of 4.81m ranks her third on the world lists. But the US athlete has struggled with an Achilles injury this season and, as of last month, was rated only 50-50 to be fit enough to compete in Berlin.
[Update 12 Aug - Stuczynski has withdrawn from the championships due to injury.]
The world No.2 Fabiana Murer of Brazil produced a massive breakthrough setting an area record of 4.82m in Rio de Janeiro in early June but she has subsequently struggled to repeat that level of performance on the European circuit.
Rogowska, the 2004 Olympic bronze medalist, was given a huge psychological fillip after defeating Isinbayeva and will go into the championships full of confidence. Her self-belief would have gone up another notch, too, after the 28-year-old Pole nailed a season’s best 4.80m to land her national title in her final pre-Berlin competition.
Rogowska’s countrywoman, Monika Pyrek, is a two-time former World medallist and cleared 4.78m in Berlin in June. Nonetheless, she has struggled to quite reproduce that level of form in more recent weeks.
The European indoor champion Yuliya Golubchikova has a season’s best of 4.70m but the Russian team-mate of Isinbayeva is another who appears shy of her absolute best.
The German challenge is headed by the European indoor silver medalist Silke Spiegelburg. Her performances in the outdoor season have been mixed, although she will be lifted by achieving a season’s best of 4.70m in her most recent competition in Leverkusen. Her team-mate Anna Battke has a best this year of 4.68m but in recent weeks has desperately struggled for form and no-heighted in four of last five competitions.
Russia’s Aleksandra Kiryashova (4.65m) and Chelsea Johnson (4.60m) of the USA could also pose a challenge in the final as could the improving Anna Giordano Bruno (4.60m), who has set four Italian records this summer and Kate Dennison (4.58m) who has gone one better in 2009 and posted five British outdoor records.
Stacy Dragila, the first ever winner of this title in 1999 (she also retained it in 2001) makes her final major championship appearance. The 38-year-old US athlete, who plans to retire at the end of the season, has been a great standard bearer for the women’s Pole Vault and will be sorely missed.
Steve Landells for the IAAF
