Perfect Timing By Sidorova

SIDOROVA SAVES HER BEST UNTIL LAST TO DEFEAT MORRIS, WHILE STEFANIDI TAKES BRONZE AS BRADSHAW GETS FOURTH

AT AN event like the IAAF World Championships, and in a discipline like the pole vault, timing is everything. Anzhelika Sidorova got hers just right as she picked the perfect moment to produce the lifetime best which landed her world gold with the very last leap of the competition.

And what a competition it was.

The Russian, competing as an authorised neutral athlete, cleared a world-leading height of 4.95m to win an almighty tussle with American Sandi Morris (4.90m) and reverse the one-two standings from last year’s world indoor championships.

Defending champion Katerina Stefanidi, also the current Olympic, European and Diamond League champion, unusually had to settle for the lowest step on the podium in taking bronze with a best of 4.85m while Britain’s Holly Bradshaw was fourth with 4.80m.

This was a final of unprecedented depth after a record 17 athletes qualified and all cleared the opening height of 4.50m, the highest ever opening test in a world championships.

Sidorova and Morris, however, ultimately went out on their own. The pair had matched each other vault for vault, both clearing 4.50m, 4.70m, 4.80m, 4.85m and 4.90m at the first time of asking, with neither competitor giving way in an absorbing contest.