Greece’s Ekaterini Stefanidi won bronze in the women’s pole vault at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, with a season-best clearance of 4.85 metres.
Stefanidi, the defending champion, cleared the first two heights (4.50 metres and 4.70 metres) with one attempt at each height. She then needed two attempts to clear both 4.80 metres and 4.85 metres. Unable to clear any further heights, the Greek would finish third overall, out of 17 athletes in the final. Gold went to Russian Anzhelika Sidorova (competing as a neutral athlete), clearing 4.95 metres. Silver went to American Sandi Morris, with 4.90 metres being her biggest clearance of the night.
This marks the tenth medal at a major international competition at the senior level in Stefanidi’s career. She has now won two medals at the World Championships (gold and bronze), one at the Olympics (gold), two at the World Indoor Championships (two bronze), three at the European Championships (two gold and one silver), and two at the European Indoor Championships (gold and silver). Additionally, this is the sixth consecutive year that Stefanidi has won a medal in a major international competition. With this medal, Greece has now medalled in the women’s pole vault at the World Championships for the third time in a row, and it remains the only track and field event in which Greece has won a World Championships medal in since 2003.
Also competing in the women’s pole vault final was 2015 bronze medalist Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou. After clearing 4.50 metres on her first attempt, the Greek missed all three attempts at 4.70 metres, finishing in 13th place overall.
Racing in the women’s 20 km walk overnight will be Greece’s Antigoni Drisbioti. Tomorrow, three Greek athletes will take part in the qualifying heats of track events. Konstantinos Douvalidis will be running in the men’s 110 metres hurdles, Rafailia Spanoudaki in the women’s 200 metres, and Irini Vasiliou in the women’s 400 metres. All three will be aiming to reach the semifinals.
by Andrew Stamas
*Image source: Eurokinissi
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