Angelica Moser in the pole vault at the IAAF World U20 Championships Bydgoszcz 2016 (© Getty Images)
Producing the competition of her life, Angelica Moser of Switzerland swept to victory in the women's pole vault, topping a 4.55m championship record.
The 18-year-old from Zurich, who cleared 4.45m outdoors this year and 4.50m indoors, didn't have the smoothest of starts, but once she worked out the kinks early on --she needed a second try at 4.20m and a third at 4.35m before sailing clear-- she was on fire.
Moser topped 4.40m, 4.45m, and 4.50m with her first attempts, the latter to equal the championships record held jointly by 2012 winner Angelica Bengtsson and 2014 champion Alena Lutkovskaya.
She then followed up with first attempt success at 4.55m, also on her first try, to seal the victory, take sole possession of the competition record, and move up to No. six on the all-time U20 list.
"I thought I could vault high here but there were three other girls with better season’s bests, so I wasn’t sure if I could win," said Moser, who took the European junior title last year and finished in a tie for seventh with Finn Wilma Murto at the European championships in Amsterdam earlier this month. "I often set my best marks in major championships and I did it again here."
Next up on her date planner is the Olympic Games in Rio.
Things didn't go quite as smoothly for pre-meet favourites Murto and 2013 world U18 champion Robeilys Peinado of Venezuela.
Peinado had a clean slate through 4.40m but that was all she could manage, topping out at 4.45, 11 centimetres shy of her season's best set last month. But she was hardly disappointed, particularly after failing to reach the final at the last edition of these championships.
“Two years ago I didn't make the final but this year I am second in the world,” she said. “There is no disappointment.”
Murto meanwhile fell behind at 4.40m, where she needed all three tries, and played catch up from thereon. Missing one try each at 4.50m, 4.55m and 4.60m, the 18-year-old was forced to settle for bronze.
Further back, Chen Qialing of China finished fourth at 4.30m, with Carson Dingler of the US fifth at 4.25m, personal bests for both.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
