2003 News & Results

Melina's competition at the World Champs came to a premature end as she cleared 4.00m in the qualifying round with 3 failures at 4.15m. With 4.25 required to make the cut she is now out of the competition. Full results from the qualifying round are at: http://www.coolrunning.co.nz/news/2003n003.html

From The Christchurch Press:

Canterbury's national pole vault champion, Melina Hamilton, has bounced back after suffering a severe ankle injury while training last week. This put her on crutches for several days. She came through her first competition since very well and was fine after a training vault yesterday.

Flying again
18 August 2003

From an ANZ news release:

The Southern Trust elite New Zealand track and field team based in Leuven, Belgium, had its final meeting in Belgium as preparation for the World Championships which begin in Paris next week. ... Pole Vaulter Melina Hamilton returned from an ankle injury to break the stadium record at 4.04 metres for a win.

Yow
8 August 2003

From an ANZ news release about NZ athletes overseas:

Athletes not to compete this weekend will [include] Melina Hamilton who is suffering from an unfortunate ankle injury sustained while landing when she was doing pole vault warm up pit drills earlier in the week. It is hoped her recovery will allow her to start next week.

Melina in the UK
3 August 2003

Melina Hamilton has competed at the 5th Loughborough International Development Match, in the UK as part of the lead up to the world champs in Paris.

31 July 03 http://www.l-e-a-p.co.uk/

Womens pole vault
Position   Name         Country   Performance
1st  Marie Bagger Bohn  Denmark        4.11m
2nd  Melina Hamilton    New Zealand    4.01m
3rd  Irie Hill          Great Britain  3.91m
4th  Tracey Bloomfield  Great Britain  3.91m
5th  Zoe Brown          Great Britain  3.81m
6th  Clare Ridgley      Great Britain  3.61m
7th  Anita Torring      Denmark        3.61m

High-flying pole vaulter Melina Hamilton may have to smash her own New Zealand record just to qualify for the final in the world track and field championships in Paris next month.

But the dedicated Canterbury vaulter is not allowing that to worry her as she puts the final touches to her build-up for the most important moment of her athletics career.

"I am a bit of an underdog. No-one will be expecting anything big from me," she said. "But I like to think I can reach the final."

Hamilton, 27, won both the New Zealand and Australian championships last summer, and confirmed her selection with a brilliant national record vault of 4.4m on Australia's Gold Coast in the final major meeting of the season.

Currently ranked 18th in the world, the Christchurch pharmacist knows she will have to at least repeat that record vault in Paris to qualify for the final, and might even have to add 5cm to the height to be sure.

"It is all going to be a giant learning curve for me. The ultimate for me would be to get a personal best at the world championships."

Among her rivals in Paris will be the new world record-holder, Russian Yelena Isinbayeva, who recently cleared 4.82m in Gateshead, England. Three others in the field have vaulted more than 4.7m, so Hamilton knows that she will have to better her previous best to be competitive.

"I know this is bigger than anything I have been to before. I will just put into practice what I have learned, and hope it all comes together."

She believes that a vault in the region of 4.6m will win gold. Her minimum target is to achieve a qualifying height for the Athens Olympics next year. That means clearing 4.4m, but she hopes to go even higher.

Hamilton flew to Europe last weekend with the remaining members of the New Zealand team. She will compete in an international meeting at Loughborough in England on Saturday, and has another lined up in Germany on Monday. The fields will dictate what other meetings she competes in.

"I want to know who is competing before I enter, but I expect to do four or five meetings before the big day."

In a surprise move, Hamilton has been doing gymnastics in addition to the more usual weight training as part of her preparation, and is delighted with the benefits.

"It has definitely helped a great deal. I do the exercises that the men do - on the high bar, the parallel bars, and I also do a bit of floor work."