Despite cutting her right hand on a shoe spike during warm-up for the pole vault final at the European Championships, Arkansas alum Tina Šutej cleared an outdoor season best height of 15-7 (4.75) to earn the bronze medal at Olympiastadion on Wednesday evening.
The next international track and field event this summer involving athletes with ties to Arkansas will be the 25th European Championships, with Olympiastadion serving as the venue in the 50th anniversary of it being the host for the 1972 Olympic Games.
Olympics round up: Australia equals Athens 2004 gold tally, Greece misses a pole vault podium finish neoskosmos.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from neoskosmos.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
4 August 2021 5:03pm
Pole Vaulter and 2016 Rio Olympic gold medalist Katerina Stefanidi has qualified for women’s pole vault final at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Joining her on Thursday will be fellow Greek countrywoman Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou, however Eleni-Klaoudia Polak did not manage to qualify for the final event.
The weather did not prove favourable for the pole vault qualifiers, as rain made running and jumping conditions unstable.
“We had to deal with very difficult weather conditions. Fortunately, everything went well. I think that on the day of the final no rain is forecast. When it rained I was a little scared. I went with the smallest pole, with what I did on a trial basis. It was a nightmarish finale, especially for me. Nikoleta caught the rain and made her jump before. Fortunately, everything went well for both. We erase it from our mind and go for the final,” Stefanidi said after the event.