Yelena Isinbayeva's Winning Streak ends at 23!

Last year, at the World Champs in Osaka, Carolina Kluft told the assembled media that no one was unbeatable. We tend to forget that in this sport. In doing that, we not only lessen the achievements of our sports heroes, but also the beauty of our sport.
A week after setting a world record of 16 feet, 2 3/4 inches in Donetsk, or 4.95 meters, Yelena Isinbayeva, the Sergei Bubka of the women’s pole vault, lost to compartriot, Svetlana Feofanova of Russia. Isinbeyeva could manage 4.61m and tied for second with Monika Pyrek of Poland, with Feofanova winning at 4.81m.
I have attached the story from fearless correspondent, Bob Ramsak. Remember, streaks ending mean new streaks. The road to Beijing gets even more exciting!

ISINBAYEVA’S WIN STREAK HALTED AT 23
by Bob Ramsak
(c) 2008 TRACK PROFILE Report, all rights reserved
Yelena Isinbayeva’s 23-competition win streak came to an end at the Pedro’s Cup jump competition in Bydgoszcz, Poland, tonight.
The reigning Olympic, World and European champion from Russia could only manage her opening height of 4.61m (15-1 1/2), before missing once at 4.76m (15-7 1/4) and twice at 4.81m (15-9 1/4), to bow out in a tie for second.
Her compatriot Svetlana Feofanova, a former world record holder, won the competition with a first-attempt 4.71m (15-5 1/2) clearance, with Poland’s Monika Pyrek tying Isinbayeva in second.
Isinbayeva’s undefeated streak began at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, Germany, on Sept. 10, 2006, 11 days after a loss, ironically, at the Pedro’s Cup outdoor meet where she failed to clear a height. Her unbeaten streak indoors, at 15 competitions, began in March 2004 when she won her first world indoor title.
Last Saturday, Isinbayeva’ raised her world record indoors to 4.95m (16-2 3/4) at the Pole vault Stars meet in Donetsk, Ukraine, the 20th of her career. Her outdoor world record of 5.01m (16-5 1/4) has stood since August 2005.
The 25-year-old’s streak of 23 was the second longest in the sport, trailing the 25 wins in the 3000m steeplechase by Saif Saaeed Shaheen of Qatar. Next on the list is Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic, the world champion in the high jump, who won her 20th straight meet last Wednesday in her home town of Split.
The competition included a men’s high jump, won by Russian Yaroslav Rybakov, with a 2.34m leap.
ENDS
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Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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