London-bound
WAIS pole vaulter Liz Parnov (WA) has taken the Australian Spark medal tally to
five with a silver medal in the girl’s pole vault on the penultimate day at the
IAAF world junior championships in Barcelona.
Advancing
through qualifying with a single clearance at 3.95m, Parnov took to the runway for
the final just three weeks after injuring her quad.
Entering the
competition at 4.20m, the Target Talent Program athlete then passed at 4.25m
before a first attempt clearance at 4.30m to move into the outright silver
medal position.
Then set to
battle it out with gold medallist Angelica Bengtsson (SWE, 4.50m, championship
record), Parnov retired as a precaution to ensure additional time for recovery
ahead of what will be her first Olympic Games.
Parnov
confirmed after the competition that a safety first approach was adopted with
the Olympics in mind.
"I tore my
quad slightly about three weeks ago and have been literally just recovering in
training leading into these championships. Today, after some good medical
advice and a really strong recovery we decided to head out and see how the leg
held up and luckily for me it did and I’ve come away with a medal,” Parnov
said.
"London is
just over a fortnight away and that is a dream come true. I want to head to my
first Games in the best possible shape I can so I decided to retire tonight and
give myself every chance of being perfect for what will be the biggest comp of
my life.”
"I’m excited
to still win a medal here with an injury that could have seen me out, I feel
like Steve Hooker must have in Berlin. I was really nervous that it wasn’t
going to work out but it has and that’s a huge confidence boost.”
Australia’s
five medal haul equals the total won in Santiago (CHI) in 2000. Santiago and
now Barcelona’s tally is the green and gold’s best since we won eight at the
1996 IAAF world junior championships in Sydney (NSW).
Additionally,
the boy’s 4x100m relay team placed 5th in the final to move the Australian
Spark to 8th on the placing table.
- Athletics Australia
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