Dennison smashes British record

KATE DENNISON etched her name into the British record books as she set a new indoor pole vault mark to book her ticket to next month's European Championships.

 
HITTING THE HEIGHTS: Kate Dennison sets new British record in Sheffield

The 24-year-old added one centimetre to Janine Whitlock's seven-year indoor record to take gold at the UK Championships at Sheffield's English Institute of Sport with a leap of 4.45m.

Dennison already has the outdoor record to her name after breaking her previous mark by clearing 4.40m inside Beijing's iconic Bird's Nest stadium during last summer's Olympics.

And now Dennison has set her sights on turning her domestic dominance in to international success after matching the UKA qualifying standard for next month's European Championships.

"It's about time I broke the record," said Dennison.  "I think I've been trying to get that record for about two years.

"I was vaulting really badly but all the girls have been jumping well so I could feel them on my tail.

"I was just trying to vault well and not think about records - I just took every height as it came.

"It's the best thing to do and now I've got the European qualifying height. I think I can go higher as I had plenty of height and I wasn't vaulting at my best.

"I never expected to be vaulting this well so early in the season."

Steve Lewis topped the podium in the men's pole vault with a best of 5.65m, 24 centimetres clear of second-placed Luke Cutts.

The 22-year-old had already qualified for the European Championships after setting a new personal best of 5.75m - ten centimetres more than the UK Athletics' qualifying standard - in Manchester earlier this year.

And after confirming his status as Britain's premier pole vaulter, he set his sights on breaking Nick Buckfield's seven-year indoor record of 5.81m before the end of the season.

"I've been pretty confident all season and I still think I'm going to get the record this season," said Lewis, who cleared 5.65m at the first attempt before three failed attempts at 5.82m.

"I had a solid warm up and three decent attempts at the British record and it's good to feel the bar at that height again.

"I'm jumping in Stockholm this week against the big boys and I'm really looking forward to it."

NICK CLOWES