Isinbayeva thrills Shanghai

Russian pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva thrilled an adoring crowd with her winning jump at Saturday's Shanghai Golden Grand Prix despite failing in her bid to beat her own world record.

She was one of several Olympic champions who returned to China after winning gold in Beijing for the one-day International Association of Athletics Federation's post-season event.

Isinbayeva, who won clearing 4.60 metres, blew kisses to the stands as she climbed off the mat after her last vault.

The greatest-ever female pole vaulter had said she wanted to make history in Shanghai but warned at a pre-event news conference that fatigue might prevent her from her world record of 5.05 metres in Beijing last month.

Beijing bronze-medalist David Oliver, fresh from winning the IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart a week earlier, won the 110 metre hurdles in 13.25 seconds.

A foot injury had forced Olympic champion Dayron Robles to withdraw at the last minute and hometown hero Liu Xiang stayed away while he recovers from a long-term heel injury that forced him to dramatically pull out of last month's Olympics.

But Chinese hurdler Xie Wenjun helped restore fans' faith, placing second with a personal best time of 13.47 seconds.

Jamaica's Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell also stayed away, but their countrymen dominated the men's 100 metres with Michael Frater crossing the line with a time of 10.05 seconds and Nesta Carter coming a close second.

Their fellow Jamaican Veronica Campbell-Brown followed up her Beijing gold medal-winning performance by winning the women's 100 metres, with a time of 11.01 seconds, beating American Lauryn Williams by 0.25 seconds.

Jamaican Shericka Williams, who took Olympic silver in the women's 400 metres last month, beat Beijing gold medalist Christine Ohuruogu with a time of 50.88 seconds. Ohuruogu placed fourth with a time of 51.31.

In another post-Games rematch, America's silver medallist shot putter Christian Cantwell beat Poland's Tomasz Majewski - who won gold in Beijing - by throwing 20.84 metres on his sixth throw. Cantwell won by nearly half a metre.

Kenya's Wilfred Bungei, another Olympic champion, beat his own Shanghai Stadium record by winning the men's 800 metres with a time of one minute 44 seconds.

The event, which is in its fourth year, is vying to be upgraded and added to the list of Golden League events, currently a series of six in Europe with a one-million-dollar jackpot for each event shared by the winners.

SHANGHAI, Sunday, AFP