Angelica Bengtsson could be the heir to Isinbayeva’s throne
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:06 pm
http://www.universalsports.com/news-blo ... 45506.html
Pole vault princess Angelica Bengtsson could be the heir to Isinbayeva’s throne
By Phil Minshull, Special to Universal Sports
TALLINN, Estonia - Yelena Isinbayeva will come face-to-face for the first time with her heir apparent at the Samsung Diamond League meeting in Stockholm on Friday: the Swedish pole vault prodigy Angelica Bengtsson.
Bengtsson has followed a similar teenage trajectory to the Russian who has been the dominant figure in her event for almost a decade, winning at the World Youth Championships, the World Junior Championships and then taking the European junior title in successive years.
However, Bengtsson is ahead of the curve. She is jumping higher than Isinbayeva ever did as a teenager.
Last Saturday in Tallinn, Bengtsson became one of the very few women to break an Isinbayeva standard when she went over a European Junior Championships record of 4.57m/14-11¾ and consigned Isinbayeva's former mark of 4.40m/14-5¼, which was set a decade ago, to history.
It was the best outdoor jump ever by a junior and only topped by Bengtsson's own world record of 4.63m/15-2¼ which she set indoors earlier this year.
Bengtsson knows that she is being touted as the next big ‘chick with the stick', to steal the phrase memorably coined by the former world record holder and 2000 Olympic Games gold medallist Stacy Dragila.
"Am I going to be the next Yelena Isinbayeva? Well, I sure hope so. I hope to jump at least as high as she has done but my goal is to break all her records... I don't have any problems with motivating myself but I could use some good competition," Bengtsson told reporters in the Estonian capital.
Inevitably, Bengtsson has been in the headlines at home as well in recent days in the build up to her meeting with Isinbayeva in the Swedish capital; pushing the likes of Brazil's 2010 world number one Fabiana Murer, U.S. record holder Jenn Suhr and this year's outdoor world leader Marina Strutz, from Germany, out of the limelight.
"I'm sure I can jump higher this summer; 4.64 at least. I'm not afraid of Isinbayeva, only if the competition finishes in the dark," she added, speaking to the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet earlier this week.
A decade ago, Isinbayeva needed only two years between winning her European junior title and taking a medal at the World Championships.
Despite the competition in the event becoming so much stronger as the women's pole vault has developed, with the bar literally and metaphorically being set so much higher, making a similar transition does not seem impossible for Bengtsson.
"For the World Championships this time we don't have such big expectations," added her father and coach Glenn Bengtsson.
"But it's scary what could have happened if she here training had not been interrupted by illness and some slight injuries at the start of the summer. It's clear that with a proper winter training there could be some pretty incredible stuff happening, for example at next year's Olympic Games," he added.
Isinbayeva, despite her meltdowns at the subsequent 2009 World Championships and 2010 World Indoor Championships, is the two-time reigning Olympic champion and on Friday night will finally get a first-hand look at the woman who could potentially succeed her in London in almost exactly 12 months time.
Pole vault princess Angelica Bengtsson could be the heir to Isinbayeva’s throne
By Phil Minshull, Special to Universal Sports
TALLINN, Estonia - Yelena Isinbayeva will come face-to-face for the first time with her heir apparent at the Samsung Diamond League meeting in Stockholm on Friday: the Swedish pole vault prodigy Angelica Bengtsson.
Bengtsson has followed a similar teenage trajectory to the Russian who has been the dominant figure in her event for almost a decade, winning at the World Youth Championships, the World Junior Championships and then taking the European junior title in successive years.
However, Bengtsson is ahead of the curve. She is jumping higher than Isinbayeva ever did as a teenager.
Last Saturday in Tallinn, Bengtsson became one of the very few women to break an Isinbayeva standard when she went over a European Junior Championships record of 4.57m/14-11¾ and consigned Isinbayeva's former mark of 4.40m/14-5¼, which was set a decade ago, to history.
It was the best outdoor jump ever by a junior and only topped by Bengtsson's own world record of 4.63m/15-2¼ which she set indoors earlier this year.
Bengtsson knows that she is being touted as the next big ‘chick with the stick', to steal the phrase memorably coined by the former world record holder and 2000 Olympic Games gold medallist Stacy Dragila.
"Am I going to be the next Yelena Isinbayeva? Well, I sure hope so. I hope to jump at least as high as she has done but my goal is to break all her records... I don't have any problems with motivating myself but I could use some good competition," Bengtsson told reporters in the Estonian capital.
Inevitably, Bengtsson has been in the headlines at home as well in recent days in the build up to her meeting with Isinbayeva in the Swedish capital; pushing the likes of Brazil's 2010 world number one Fabiana Murer, U.S. record holder Jenn Suhr and this year's outdoor world leader Marina Strutz, from Germany, out of the limelight.
"I'm sure I can jump higher this summer; 4.64 at least. I'm not afraid of Isinbayeva, only if the competition finishes in the dark," she added, speaking to the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet earlier this week.
A decade ago, Isinbayeva needed only two years between winning her European junior title and taking a medal at the World Championships.
Despite the competition in the event becoming so much stronger as the women's pole vault has developed, with the bar literally and metaphorically being set so much higher, making a similar transition does not seem impossible for Bengtsson.
"For the World Championships this time we don't have such big expectations," added her father and coach Glenn Bengtsson.
"But it's scary what could have happened if she here training had not been interrupted by illness and some slight injuries at the start of the summer. It's clear that with a proper winter training there could be some pretty incredible stuff happening, for example at next year's Olympic Games," he added.
Isinbayeva, despite her meltdowns at the subsequent 2009 World Championships and 2010 World Indoor Championships, is the two-time reigning Olympic champion and on Friday night will finally get a first-hand look at the woman who could potentially succeed her in London in almost exactly 12 months time.