Women's pole vault, steeplechase records fall

IRAKLION, Greece -- Svetlana Feofanova broke the world record in the women's pole vault Sunday night, clearing 16 feet to better the mark set a week earlier by a Russian compatriot.

Feofanova's left knee rubbed the bar as she went up, and though the bar wobbled, it stayed on. Feofanova celebrated with a back flip in the landing area, then took a victory lap around the nearly empty stadium.

Feofanova's record, on her second attempt at that height, broke the mark of 15-11 ¾set June 27 by Yelena Isinbayeva in Gateshead, England.

Feofanova, Isinbayeva and American Stacy Dragila have been taking turns breaking world indoor and outdoor marks in the pole vault the last couple of years -- and all three will be vying for medals at the Athens Olympics in August.

Feofanova is the reigning world champion. She thinks the barrier of 16-0 ¾will "be quickly broken by either me or Isinbayeva or Dragila, since we have the potential to do so."

A few minutes earlier at the Tsiklitiria super grand prix meet, Russia's Gulnara Samitova shattered her own world record in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase by nearly seven seconds.

Running a half lap ahead of the field for the second half of the race, Samitova finished in 9 minutes, 1.59 seconds and raised her arms in triumph. Her previous mark, set last August, was 9:08.33.

The women's steeplechase is not contested in the Olympics. Samitova said she expected to run the 5,000 at the Athens Games.

"I was expecting to set a record and I wanted it a lot," said Samitova, who was paced for the first half of the race by compatriot Lyubov Ivanova. "What I didn't know was how much I could improve my time. The performance I had was amazing, and now I expect to go below nine minutes next time."