Pole Vault

EUGENE, Ore. - Jenn Suhr's pole vaulting career has taken off since she won the silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but her training situation remains grounded. Suhr, known as Jenn Stuczynski before she married her coach, Rick Suhr , still trains in a cramped airplane hangar behind her home near Rochester, N.Y. Suhr has come close to hitting the hangar's ceiling in practice several times, but she didn't have to soar quite that high at Hayward Field on Sunday to triumph at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials and win a berth at the London Games.

LONDON - Rain began falling on Olympic Stadium as Felix Sanchez accepted his gold medal for the 400-meter hurdles, and he knew the droplets were no mere quirk of English summer weather. Eight years after he became a champion at the Athens Olympics, four years after he vowed but failed to win a medal in honor of his late grandmother, he was on top of the world again and in the same time - 47.63 seconds - that he clocked in Athens. He had pinned his abuela's picture beneath his bib, and when raindrops began to kiss his face he was sure she had sent them and he sobbed uncontrollably.

Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva broke the world record in the women's pole vault Sunday, clearing 16 feet, 1/2-inch at the Norwich Union International meet. Isinbayeva's record broke the previous mark of 16 feet by compatriot Svetlana Feofanova on July 4 at Iraklion, Greece. That broke Isinbayeva's record of 15-11 3/4 set in England on June 27. "It's crazy, it's amazing, it's fantastic," a giggling Isinbayeva said. "England is a lucky country for me," she said.

LONDON -- Jennifer Suhr's coach sent her off to the track Monday with a few words of encouragement. "You're going to win," he said. Yeah, yeah, coaches say that all the time. But not this one, not when her coach also is her husband, not when the relationship is so charged with intensity that he never would dare pile expectations atop pressure. Until Monday, that is. Rick Suhr could feel a gold medal coming, so much so that he started crying in anticipation on the flight from the United States.

If Nicole Randall had one wish for this story, it would be that it didn't exist. Nothing personal, she says. She just thinks it would be nice if people could say "girls" and "pole-vaulting" in the same sentence without it being news. "It's so pitiful that it's even like this, that it should even be surprising that a girl pole-vaults," says Randall, a Fountain Valley senior. "I mean, I'd love it if they were to write, 'Oh! A guy pole-vaulted today!'

Foothill junior Erica Hoernig won the pole vault with a county record 11 feet in a Century League girls' track and field double dual meet Wednesday at Foothill High. Foothill defeated Canyon, 108-28, but lost to El Modena, 76-60. Hoernig's mark betters the county record she set Saturday at the Orange County Championships (10 feet 9 inches). The record has been bettered three times in the past two weeks. The previous record was held by Marina sophomore Katie Rorem (10-6).

Earle Meadows, a USC student when he won the gold medal in the pole vault at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, has died of natural causes in Ft. Worth at 79. Meadows won in Berlin by clearing 14 feet 3 1/4 inches on a bamboo pole. In 1937, he broke the world pole vault record twice. The two previous years, he had shared the NCAA pole vault title with Trojan teammate Bill Sefton. Meadows was on three USC teams that won NCAA championships--from 1935 through 1937.

The California Interscholastic Federation's State Executive Committee has recommended that the girls' pole vault be contested as a scoring event at the league, section and State championship level in the upcoming season. The recommendation was made by the CIF's federal council last week. A final vote will be taken at a council meeting Feb. 3. Although girls have participated in the pole vault during the past two seasons, the results did not count in team scoring.

Sergei Bubka broke his world indoor record in the pole vault Sunday, clearing 20 feet 2 inches during a meet in his hometown of Donetsk, Ukraine, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. It was the 34th time that Bubka had set a pole vault record, indoors or outdoors, and the second time this year. It was the 19th time Bubka had set the indoor record, the most recent being on Feb. 13, when he cleared 20-1 3/4 in Lievin, France.

When smoking advertisements were banned from the airwaves, I thought I had finally heard the last of the "silly millimeter longer." Then along comes Sergei Bubka. MICHAEL HANNIN, Woodland Hills

LONDON -- Usain Bolt and other sprinters stole the spotlight Saturday morning but British heptathlete Jessica Ennis earned her share of applause from the hometown crowd as she extended her lead through six events. Ennis moved close to the gold medal with the second-best long jump of the day (21 feet, 3¼ inches) and a personal best of 155-9 in the javelin throw, giving her 5,971 points. Austra Skujyte of Lithuania remained second with 5,783 points, but Lyudmyla Yosypenko of Ukraine moved up to third with 5,701 points.

EUGENE, Ore. - Jenn Suhr's pole vaulting career has taken off since she won the silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but her training situation remains grounded. Suhr, known as Jenn Stuczynski before she married her coach, Rick Suhr , still trains in a cramped airplane hangar behind her home near Rochester, N.Y. Suhr has come close to hitting the hangar's ceiling in practice several times, but she didn't have to soar quite that high at Hayward Field on Sunday to triumph at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials and win a berth at the London Games.

- For two days, the U.S. Olympic track and field trials has been an ironic dry run for the London Summer Games, where the weather could be iffy. Wet. Unseasonably cold. Intermittent flashes of brightness, both in the sky and on the track. And no one shone brighter during those two days than decathlete Ashton Eaton. The conditions were perfect Saturday when Eaton completed the most stunning performance in the 100 years since the decathlon made its Olympic debut at the Stockholm Summer Games and King Gustav V of Sweden said to winner Jim Thorpe, "Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.

There was a football-like capacity crowd of more than 7,000 that filled Arcadia High's stadium Saturday night for the Arcadia Invitational, and the 400-meter relay resembled an all-star team of football players. There was USC-bound Robert Woods leading the state Division III champions from Gardena Serra. There was California-bound Kaelin Clay from always fast Long Beach Poly. There was the No. 1 junior running back prospect in the state, De'Anthony Thomas, running for Los Angeles Crenshaw.

Anthony Curran has been coaching pole vaulters at UCLA for 28 years, and he has never had an incoming high school recruit quite like Michael Woepse of Santa Ana Mater Dei. "He's the toughest, most aggressive kid I've ever seen in high school," Curran said. "He has more passion than anyone in the event." Woepse cleared 17 feet 6 inches last month in a dual meet, and on Saturday he could try for 18 feet when he competes in the Arcadia Invitational, where he went a season-best 16-9 last year.

Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva bounced back from losing her world title by setting a world record of 16 feet, 7 1/4 inches in the Weltklasse meet on Friday in Zurich. Usain Bolt , in his first race since smashing world records in the 100 and 200 meters, shook off Jamaican teammate Asafa Powell to win the 100 in 9.81 seconds. He was well off his world record of 9.58 set less than two weeks ago at the world championships in Berlin. World champion Sanya Richards won the 400 meters in 48.94 seconds, the fastest time in the world this year.

Some 1,000 athletes are expected to participate in the Steve Scott Invitational track and field meet at UC Irvine today. The best world-class competition is expected to be in the pole vault. The women's pole vault features Melissa Price, a two-time NCAA indoor champion; Mary Sauer, who finished seventh last season at the U.S. Outdoor championships, and Lisa Kubishta, who is currently world-ranked. All three have cleared 14 feet this year.

Russian Yelena Isinbayeva broke her own world record in the pole vault Sunday, clearing 15 feet, 11 3/4 inches at the IAAF Norwich Union Grand Prix meet. Isinbayeva got the mark on her third try. She had set the old record of 15-11 1/4 at the world indoor championships in March in Budapest, Hungary. For setting the world record, she was given $50,000 by the Norwich Union meet organizers.

Chelsea Johnson empathized with Yelena Isinbayeva as the czarina of the pole vault lined up for her final attempt Monday night at the World Track and Field Championships. It was a feeling born of understanding the pressures inherent to their event, not of sympathy for Isinbayeva, whose diva demeanor as much as her dominance has set the Russian apart from her rivals. "Third attempts," Johnson said, "are no fun." Johnson, a UCLA graduate participating in her first world meet, was content with her position, having clinched at least a bronze medal.

It has been 40 years since the City Section record of 16 feet, 7 inches in the pole vault was established by Bob Pullard of Los Angeles High. It's the longest surviving record in City track and field history. Perhaps it's only fitting then that the teenager ready to take a shot at breaking the record this week grew up more familiar with Joe DiMaggio's seemingly unbreakable 56-game hitting streak in baseball than a four-decade old high school pole-vault record.