Yelena Isinbayeva pushed her gamesmanship one step too far on Tuesday and crashed out of the world women’s pole vault, a competition won by Brazil’s Fabiana Murer. Murer, who was fifth at the Berlin worlds in 2009, managed a best of 4.85m, with Germany’s Martina Strutz taking silver (4.80m) and Russian Svetlana Feofanova claiming bronze (4.75). Isinbayeva had to be content with a hugely disheartening sixth placing after just one successful vault.
Dipping James ruins Merritt’s return:Grenada teenager Kirani James produced a fantastic final sprint and desperate lunge at the line to snatch world 400m gold from defending champion LaShawn Merritt on Tuesday. Reigning Olympic champion Merritt, returning to the world stage after a doping ban for testing positive for anabolic steroid DHEA, could only look on in horror as James pulled out his dip. James, 18, clocked a personal best of 44.60sec, just three-hundredths of a second ahead of Merritt, with European champion Kevin Borlee of Belgium claiming bronze in 44.90sec. “I hope to see more and more Grenada folks,” beamed James, who won the world youth title in 2009 and the world junior title last year.
“I hope we get teams ready by next year for the Olympics and I wish to do some great things.” Merritt blamed his last-gasp loss on a lack of proper execution. “I just had some mechanical issues in the final metres that went wrong,” the 25-year-old said. “I was focused on the finish line and I didn’t quite execute as I wanted to. It’s all about execution. I don’t know what went wrong with the race but I’ll go back and have a look. “I came with a plan and I almost stuck to it. But the race is over now. I got a silver, I’m on the podium and feeling great and healthy and that’s my number one concern.” After a slick start from all eight runners, Merritt made his usual move around the 200m mark. As he rounded the far bend, it looked like he would have the beating of the field, but James proved him wrong to win the small Caribbean island’s first ever world medal.
