Yelena Isinbayeva breaks another World record in Monaco! – European Athletics (EAA) NEWS

Last night's aptly named Herculis Meeting, the final IAAF World Athletics Tour meeting before the Olympic Games in Bejing, saw another Herculean performance from the Russian Queen of the Vaults, Yelena Isinbayeva, who added another centimetre to her own World record.

Isinbayeva held in the fascinating Stade Louis II in Montecarlo, was marked by a new world record in the women's pole vault by Yelena Isinbayeva who added one cm to her fresh Rome record vaulting 5.04.

Isinbayeva lit up the incredible Stade Louis II in Montecarlo when she cleared 5.04m to improve her recent World record in Rome and got another step closer to her goal of setting 35 World records and equalling her predecessor and mentor Sergey Bubka.

Isinbayeva's 5.04m vault marks the third World record in the history of the Herculis meeting, and caps a fabulous pre-olympic season for the 26-year-old athlete that includes two World records – in Rome (5.03m) and in Montecarlo (5.04m) plus two more wins in Stockolm (4.85m which earned her a carat diamond for a new meeting record) and in London where she narrowly missed a third attempt at the World record after beating US rising star Jennifer Stuczyinski.

The Russian superstar opened her Montecarlo competition at 4.71m which she cleared in her second attempt. She went on to clear 4.83m also in her second attempt beating Yuliya Golubchikova who had vaulted 4.71m in her first try. Isinbayeva's progression continued at 4.93m which she managed to clear at the second time of asking. Then she put the bar at 5.03 where she needed three attempts to break the new record in front of prominent VIP guests like Prince Albert of Monaco.

For Isinbayeva the World record was a special gift for her adoptive Monaco Principality where she spends most of the year.

"It was very special to break the record in Monaco because it was the first time I competed here since I moved to Montecarlo. I feel in good shape and I hope to keep this form until Bejing," said Isinbayeva.

The Monaco Super Grand Prix meeting was also highlighed by many stand-out results and an array of European seasonal bests like Yuriy Borzakovskiy's 1:42.79 in the 800m and Naide Gomes' 7.12m leap in the women's Long Jump – encouraging indicators that Europe's top athletes are in their best shape for the Olympic Games.
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Yuriy Borzakovski (RUS) 800m.
Photo by Picture Alliance.

Reigning Olympic 800m Champion Yuriy Borzakovski appears to be gradually approaching his peak at the right time, he put in a fantastic head-to-head battle down the homestraight with Youssef Saad Kamel from Barhein to share the second fastest time in the World this year, with the 1:42.79 win going to the Russian by the narrowest of margins.

Robert Lathowers from the Netherlands and Michael Rimmer from Great Britain also performed very well smashing their personal best times by running 1:44.34 and 1:44.68 respectively.

Naide Gomes opened the Herculis in great style by setting a new Portuguese record in the Long Jump with a superb 7.12m in the first round, a result which confirms her spot as a World leader. It was the second consecutive meeting in one week in which Gomes managed to break the 7m barrier after she jumped 7.04m at the Stockholm DN Galan last Tuesday.

The reigning World and European Indoor Champion backed up her 7.12m clearance with a solid second best jump of 6.95m in the fourth attempt. She now leaves to Bejing as one of the biggest favourites to win Olympic gold as she claims three jumps over 7m this summer.

"I expected a good performance because I trained very well. I hope I will do better in Bejing. It will be necessary to jump more than 7m to win a medal. 7.12 is good. I am on the right way," said Gomes.

This year's SPAR European Cup winner Lyudmila Kolchanova (RUS) also put in an encouraging 6.68m clearance to finish in third.

Young British 400m hope, Martyn Rooney continues to impress. After his blistering improvement (44.83) to claim victory at last week's London Grand Prix, the SPAR European Cup winner took great delight in adding his second consecutive Super Grand Prix win to his stats table. The 21-year-old is thriving now he has the opportunity to race against athletes who can stretch his ability, and last night set yet another personal best and European leading time of 44.72.

"I am happy because I won again. My goal is to reach the final in Beijing," said Rooney.

French 400m World Championship finalist Leslie Djhone also dipped under the 45-second barrier to claim third place in 44.95.
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Naide Gomes (POR) Long Jump.
Photo by Picture Alliance.
European Champion Andrey Silnov, who cleared a sensational World leading 2.38m in London last Saturday but will unfortunately miss the Olympic Games in Bejing because he finished fourth in the Russian Championships, continued his superb week of wins in Monaco, clearing 2.33m in his second attempt. Linus Thornblad cleared 2.31 for second place.

Silnov, who won in Monaco in 2006 clearing 2.37m, failed three attempts at 2.41.

"It was a good competition tonight. I jumped my personal best in London three days ago. Maybe I was a bit tired tonight", said Silnov.

The French crowd were delighted by their new Triple Jump star, Theddy Thamgo. The newly crowned World Junior Champion who set a sensational but windy 17.33m in Bydgoszcz, nearly repeated this feat at the Monaco Louis II, leaping to a legal 17.19m in his final attempt which earned him the fourth place behind Randy Lewis from Grenada (17.42m), last year's Portuguese World Champion Nelson Evora (17.24m) and Slovakia's Dimitri Valjukevic (17.20m).

Anna Jesien from Poland, last year's World Championship 400m Hurdles bronze medallist, ran 54.30, the fastest time in Europe this summer, to finish fourth in a very high quality women's 400m Hurdles event where Jamaican Melaine Walker set a new World leading time of 53.48.

Jesien's male counterpart, Marek Plawgo, who also boasts a World bronze medal from the 400m Hurdles in Osaka last year, set another European leading time fell in the men's event. The 27-year-old Pole put in a top performance to take second in 48.69 behind Jamaican Danny McFarlane (48.39).

The main European focus in the women's 100m was on the French-Belgian clash between crowd favourite Christine Arron and double European Sprints Champion Kim Gevaert.

The Belgian star finished as the first European in fifth place with 11.13, an encouraging result after some injury problems against a world-class field where Jamaican sprinters Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson finished first and second in a very narrow finish in 10.94 and 10.95.
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Martyn Rooney (GBR) 400m.
Photo by Andy Heading.

Arron, who won the last edition of the Herculis in 2007, showed an encouraging improvement with her 11.24 finish.

Ronald Pognon was the only European starter in the men's 100m A-race where he finished eighth in 10.28 in the sprint highlighted by the fabulous 9.82 meeting record of former World record holder Asafa Powell from Jamaica.

Dolores Checa from Spain was the fastest European in the women's 3,000m with a new European lead of 8:37.78, in a very fast women's race Ethiopian Ayalew Yimer ran a new World leading time of 8:35.50. In the men's race, former European Cross Country Champion Mo Farah was the top European in eighth place in a season's best of 7:39.55.

The Herculis meeting was also the final leg of the french athletics circuit Lagardère Athlé Tour. A French middle-distance win came in the 3,000m Steeplechase, where Mahledine Mekhissi Bennabad clocked 8:17.22. The best European man in the 1,500m was France's Guillaume Eraud who ran a new best time of 3:36.14 in the race which featured the Kenyan World leader Daniel Komen Kipchirchir (3:31.49).

Natalya Panteleyeva from Russia clinched the win in the women's 1,500m in a season's best of 4:02.57.

Poland's Tomas Majewski, who finished third in London last weekend with 20.97, continued his season on a high note by winning the men's Shot Put with 20.44m.

Slovakian Petr Svoboda narrowly missed a new best time with his 13.33 finish as the best European in fourth place in the men's 110m Hurdles won by US David Oliver in 13.11. Latvia's Stanislav Oljiar ran his season's best in fifth place with 13.35.

European Athletics (EAA) NEWS