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Olympic
champion and world pole vault record holder Yelena Isinbayeva made an
unimpressive return to competition after an 11-month break by winning a
low-key indoor meeting on Sunday.

Isinbayeva
struggled to find her top form but was still too good for her rivals,
clearing 4.81 metres on her first attempt to win the annual Russian
Winter invitational.

The flamboyant
Russian, who took a break to rediscover her love for the sport, played
down her mediocre showing in Moscow and said she was satisfied with her
first competitive outing since last March’s world indoor championships
in Doha where she failed to win a medal.

“The most important
thing for me was to win today,” Isinbayeva told reporters after failing
three times at 4.91 metres, well short of her world indoor record.

“I was away from
competition for nearly a year. I must admit I missed it, I missed the
atmosphere, the adrenalin, the nerves, everything and I am very happy
to be back.” She began with 4.61 after all her rivals, including
compatriot and former world champion Svetlana Feofanova, had left the
arena.

After easily going over her opening height, Isinbayeva also cleared 4.81 on her first try but the next height proved too tough.

The 28-year-old was confident she would quickly regain her top form.

“I did everything
what myself and my coach (Vitaly Petrov) had set out to do today. I
just had the world’s best result this year,” Isinbayeva, who also owns
the world outdoor record at 5.06, said.

“I’m getting most of my competitive feelings back and I don’t think
it would take me long before I could start going for world records
again.” Isinbayeva will also take part at the Sergei Bubka invitational
in Ukraine later this month before competing at next month’s European
indoor championships in Paris.

Reuters