Olympic and world pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva opened her competitive year with a 19th world record in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk yesterday.

Isinbayeva raised her own world indoor record by a centimetre to 4.91 metres at the annual meeting organised by the great Ukrainian men's pole vaulter Sergei Bubka.

The 23-year-old Russian, who is determined to overhaul Bubka's world record tally of 35 set indoor and outdoors, broke the five metres barrier in London last July.

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