New PB for Boyd with Sydney Track Classic Next on List

Published On: 10 March 2011

Alana Boyd has moved equal second on the all-time Australian record list

WAIS pole vaulter Alana Boyd has set the bar high ahead of the Sydney Track Classic after a clearing a new personal best of 4.60m at a Perth GP meet last weekend.

The Commonwealth champion moved equal second on the all-time Australian record list, level with former WAIS champion and world record holder Emma George, behind another former WAIS athlete in Kym Howe who set 4.72m indoors.

Boyd’s steady improvement under WAIS coach Alex Parnov has seen the 26 year-old win gold at last year’s Commonwealth Games and inch past her old personal best mark of 4.58m, with the Brisbane born vaulter now a warm favourite to win national honours at April’s Championships in Melbourne.

And the timing of Boyd’s efforts couldn’t be better, following the news American vaulter and 2009 World Championship silver medallist Chelsea Johnson will be competing at the March 19 Sydney Track Classic.

Boasting a personal best of 4.73m, Johnson in 2010 took to the runway at the New York and Eugene instalments of the Diamond League, with her 4.40m clearance for third at the Addidas Grand Prix also her season best.

A former NCAA indoor and outdoor pole vault champion, Johnson is Californian born and bred. She attended the University of Southern California and will be ideal competition for Boyd and a bounty of other Australians including WAIS scholarship holder Amanda Bisk.

A five-stop national tour, the 2011 Australian Athletics Tour boasts four divisions (sprints/hurdles, distance, throws, distance) with male and female athletes in different events pitted against each other in the race for the largest prize purse in Australian athletics history.

The Sydney Track Classic is the last leg of the tour before the Tour Final in Perth, with domestic athletes on the hunt for strong point scores lining up alongside a bounty of international talent that includes 800m world record holder David Rudisha (KEN), America’s number one discus thrower in Becky Briesch and Olympic 1500m champion Asbel Kiprop (KEN).