Yelena Isinbayeva qualified for the pole vault final at the World Indoor Championships on her last attempt.
Only months after she was eliminated from the World Outdoor Championships for failing to clear a height, the Olympic champion from Russia was facing the same situation when she prepared for her third and final attempt at 4.55 metres. This time, she made it to Saturday's final.
"Now I am looking forward to the final with the aim to win and break the world record," Isinbayeva said.
It would be her 28th world record overall if she goes beyond five metres on Saturday.
Isinbayeva lost her world championship title in the German capital last August when she failed to clear a height, despite being the overwhelming favorite as the two-time defending champion.
Indoors, she is a three-time defending champion, world record holder and unbeaten this season. But still, she needed all her mental resilience to make it to the final.
In Berlin, she put the bar too high on her opening attempt and paid the price. Despite repeating time and again she had learned her lesson, she again started jumping when everybody else had already finished.
Usually she thrives when all eyes are on her only. This time, she said she was troubled by equipment problems with the bar which forced her to interrupt her preparations two times before her first attempt.
"So I had to wait 30 more minutes," Isinbayeva said. "So of course it's difficult to wait, wait all the time."
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