Two-time Olympic pole vault champ Yelena Isinbayeva, Russia’s most famous track and field athlete, competed for the first time since 2013 on Tuesday and cleared the highest height of any woman this year.
Isinbayeva, who took off 2014 and 2015 and early 2016 due to a pregnancy and subsequent injury, cleared 4.90 meters to win the Russian Championship in Cheboksary.
She cleared 4.90 on her third and final attempt, .04 higher than the second-best woman in the world outdoors for 2016. Then she raised the bar to 5.07 meters, .01 above her 2009 world record, and failed in one attempt.