Brazil’s Murer sets 2016 pole vault benchmark
Rio de Janeiro, July 4 (IANS) Former world champion pole vaulter Fabiana Murer has guaranteed her place at next month’s Rio Olympics by registering the highest leap in the world this year.
The 35-year-old on Sunday also set a new personal best, clearing 4.87 metres at the Brazilian track and field championships in Sao Bernardo do Campo, near Sao Paulo, reports Xinhua.
“I’m very happy with how I went, but there are seven or eight athletes vying for an Olympic medal,” said Murer, who won gold at the 2011 world championships in Daegu but is yet to earn a podium finish at the Olympics.
Murer’s vault on Sunday was a new South American record and eclipsed by one centimetre the previous 2016 high set by Greece’s Ekaterini Stefanidi.
Joana Costa also achieved the Olympic qualifying standard in the event with a jump of 4.5m.
The other athlete to secure an Olympic berth was Nubia Soares, who leapt 14.9m in the triple jump.