National Record for Alana Boyd

WAIS pole vaulter Alana Boyd has written herself into the record books after setting a new Australian National Record at a Perth domestic meet last Friday night.

Competing at the Strive Inter-Club Athletics Meet at the WA Athletics Stadium, Boyd initially set a new personal best at 4.71m, having beaten her previous mark of 4.66m, also set in Perth, two weeks ago.

The Commonwealth gold medalist then moved the bar to 4.76 and surpassed former WAIS athlete Kim Howe’s previous record of 4.72m, which had stood for five years.

Boyd put the record down to hard work and admitted enjoying the purple patch she has been in over the summer.

“To jump two PB’s in the one night, I am pretty stoked,” she said.

“It has probably been about time. It has been coming and coming all season, and to go out there and not only jump the PB’s but get the Australian record is great. I’m definitely on a massive high right now.”

Boyd now not only sits atop Howe and another former WAIS vaulter in Emma George (4.60m), both of whom held world records in their careers, but is 11th in the world all-time.

Boyd heads to the Qantas Melbourne Track Classic and Olympic Team Athletics Trials next weekend before departing for the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey from 9th – 11th of March.

-with Athletics Australia