McCartney’s confident world record in her sights
Kiwi praises current crop of vaulters after third- place finish at Rome meet
Crack Greek pole vaulter Ekaterini Stefanidi had a go at it in Rome yesterday, and missed; but New Zealand’s star Eliza McCartney is confident the eight- year- old world record is vulnerable to the top crop of athletes.
The world best was set in Zurich in 2009 by Russian Yelena Isinbayeva, at 5.06m. Stefanidi, the Olympic champion in Rio last year, having confirmed her win in the Rome Diamond League meet yesterday, then set her sights on 5.07m, and failed.
McCartney finished third, buoyed by an impressive season- opening effort with a leap of 4.75m — 7cm short of her personal best, and national record, set in Auckland in February. However, she believes it’s a case of when, not if, Isinbayeva’s mark becomes a relic of the past, given the quality of vaulters around.
“I don’t think it’ll be long until that record is broken,” the 20- year- old from the North Shore said.
“I don’t know who will do it, or when, but there’s definitely some girls out there who can give it a really good shot.
“The guys are so much further ahead of us we need to start catching up.”
The biggest men’s leap is 6.16m, set indoors by Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie three years ago in Donetsk.
Stefanidi made it t wo Diamond League wins in a row, after victory at Doha in the opening event on May 5. She reached 4.85m yesterday and now holds a three- point lead on 16 points in the overall standings, three clear of Cuban former world champion Yarisley Silva. McCartney sits sixth on six points. The Cuban pipped McCartney for the silver in an intriguing three- sided contest, once the other eight jumpers had dropped off.
McCartney was happy with her performance, having begun at a low 4.40m — which she missed with her first attempt — just to get the feel of event, and enjoyed a slice of good fortune with her third and final attempt at 4.75m.
She gave the bar a solid clip and it bounced up and down before settling back in the groove.
“I was quite surprised it stayed on,” she said.
“That never happens to me when the bar looks like it’s going to fall off. It always falls off.
“I was jumping pretty good by that point. Technically it wasn’t too bad, so I’m happy to be back up at those heights again.”
McCartney doesn’t like talking specific height targets, but believes she can get over 4.85m “pretty soon”.
“I was getting really tired in the last couple of jumps. I had lost a bit of energy because I’d done so many.
“In a fresher position I’d definitely have a good crack at it.”
Coach Jeremy McColl liked what he saw from his athlete who stuck with her shorter 10- pace run- up yesterday, partly because it was the first meet and better to work her way into the season.
Next stop is Oslo and the Bislett Games early next Friday morning. Stockholm follows three days later.
But all plans are geared towards the world championships in London in August.
“It is quite a few competitions in a row, but it’s not too dissimilar to what can happen in summer in New Zealand,” McCartney said.
“It’s nothing too bad. We’ll see how I pull up after this competition, but it will be good to get as many in as I can.
“I’ve still got a lot to work on and it’s good to get this senior competition while I’m in Europe.”
But it’s Stefanidi who is setting the pace. “She’s jumping really well,” McCartney acknowledged.
“She’s amazingly consistent, which I’m pretty impressed about. And it’s awesome to see she had a crack at the world record.”
Eliza McCartney