Isinbayeva shines in Helsinki

Russian pole vault legend Yelena Isinbayeva broke her own world record with 5.01 meters at the world athletics championships on Friday.

The Athens Olympic champion created the history of capping the world championship with ease on Friday as no rival posed any challenge to her.

As the championships entered its seventh day, the sun showed up on the Finnish capital for the first time since Tuesday morning, creating an ideal conditions for the pole vault final, which would have been held on Wednesday but was postponed because of bad weather.

Isinbayeva, who recently set the world record of 5.00m in London, directly demanded a starting height of 4.50m, and she made it at the first attempt.

After the height of 4.60m, the 23-year-old saw no rivals except Polish vaulter Monika Pyrek.

Isinbayeva flew over the 4.70m at her first try but Pyrek failed at her first two attempts.

Pyrek, whose personal best is 4.72m, betted her fate by demanding the height of 4.75m for her last try. She had a bad luck.

With gold medal already in hand, Isinbayeva asked for 5.01m, one centimeter higher than her world record of 5.00m, which ignited the enthusiasm among the audiences.

With thunderous applauses, Isinbayeva failed at her first attempt but she made it at the second, making herself the second athlete to break the world record at the championships after her compatriot Olimpiada Ivanova who broke the women's 20km race walk world record on Aug.7.

Pyrek took the silver medal with 4.60m while Pavla Hamackova grabbed the bronze with 4.50m.

Asian record holder Gao Shuying of China created her seasonal best by clearing 4.50m to take the fifth place.

Source: Xinhua