http://www.european-athletics.org/index ... 3&Itemid=2
POLE VAULT MEN FINAL
Russia's Leonid Kivalov produced a superlative display of vaulting to equal the 18 year-old Championship record held by his compatriot Maksim Tarasov.
Three years after Tarasov won at the 1989 European Athletics Junior Championships in Varazdin, in what was then Yugoslavia but now Croatia, he became the Olympic champion and, judging from his display in far from ideal conditions for vaulting, it would be no surprise if Kivalov was to follow in his footsteps on the global stage in years to come.
Kivalov went over his winning height on his first attempt before failing three times at what would have been a personal best height of 5.70m.
The competition started to get particularly entertaining at 5.45m when Kivalov, fellow Russian Yevgeniy Ageyev and Poland's Lukasz Michalski all went over that height on their second attempts.
Ageyev went over a personal best 5.50m on his first attempt and his two rivals, jumping after him, decided to pass. At 5.55m it was Ageyev's turn to pass while Kivalov went over on his second attempt to regain the initiative and Michalski failed three times to take the bronze medal.
Ageyev then failed his first attempt at 5.60m but Kivalov slithered clear which seemed to deal a decisive blow to his compatriot, who brought down the bar on his final two attempts.