 Isinbayeva will aim to claim her first World gold in Helsinki |
Russian Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva soared to yet another world pole vault record in Lausanne. The 23-year-old added an extra centimetre to her own outdoor mark, clearing 4.93m in Switzerland.
It is the 14th world record of Isinbayeva's career and comes just over three months after she broke her own indoor mark in Lievin.
The Russian, whose indoor mark stands at 4.89m, has yet to clear the milestone 5m-mark in competition.
"It's fantastic for me, I'm so happy," Isinbayeva said. "It's not easy, even if it looks easy.
"I don't know how high I can jump, maybe 5.10 or even 5.15. I just don't know my potential."
Her coach Yevgeny Trofimov claims Isinbayeva has already surpassed 5m in training.
But the Olympic champion receives a $50,000 bonus each time she breaks a world record, so she is likely to take it one step at a time.
She has set herself the target of beating male counterpart Sergei Bubka's haul of 35 world records in the event.
On the track, Frenchman Ronald Pognon set a personal best of 9.99 seconds to shock Olympic champion Justin Gatlin in the 100m.
 Sturrup defied cool conditions in the 100m to set a world-leading time |
Ghana's Aziz Zakari, who took top spot in the first Golden League of the season in Rome last Friday, was second with Gatlin third.
Jeremy Wariner got things back on track for the strong American contingent in the men's 400m.
The Olympic champion had no difficulty easing to victory in 44.96.
In the women's 100m, Chandra Sturrup of the Bahamas set the fastest time of the year, winning in 10.84.
But compatriot and Olympic champion Tonique Williams-Darling was ran out of the 400m, finishing behind American Sanya Richards.
With most British athletes preparing for the AAAs and World trials in Manchester this weekend few travelled to Lausanne.
But Nathan Douglas finished an encouraging fourth in the men's triple jump, landing a new personal best of 17.27m.
Phillips Idowu, the British number one, made a disappointing start to his season as he finished 10th with a poor effort of 16.34m.