Doha (AFP)
A fright then a great happiness: Angelica Bengtsson nearly lost everything when her pole broke during her last test at 4.80 m in the World Cup final Sunday in Doha but she had a second chance and broke her record of Sweden.
The Swede's pole broke when she planted it in the bumper. The former 26-year-old European champion hopes to fall on her back, without hurting herself.
In this case, the regulation stipulates that the athlete must obtain an additional test.
But when she picked up a harder pole, she found it ... in the business of her French friend Ninon Guillou-Romarin, who had failed a little earlier at 4.80m.
"When I finished my contest, I took Angelica's (Bengtsson's) pole by mistake, so after her failed jump, when she looked for a harder pole, I offered to take one of mine. But looking, I fell on hers in my business.I was mistaken before storing my poles, "said Guillou-Romarin, smiling, at the microphone of France Television.
Encouraged by the crowd at the Khalifa stadium (Doha), Bengtsson then made his final attempt at 4.80m, beating the Swedish record.
In the end, Angelica Bengtsson finished 6th in the competition.
Bengtsson and Guillou-Romarin, 12th Sunday, have come together since the Swede was in a relationship with the brother of the tricolor pole vaulter Axel Chapelle ... the companion of Guillou-Romarin.
In 2014, in a similar case, the French Renaud Lavillenie had seriously injured his foot during an attempt to 6.21 m to try to improve the world record (6.16 m) he had just to beat.
© 2019 AFP