Australian Olympic pole vault star Alana Boyd to use European events to research Rio opponents

AUSTRALIAN pole vaulter Alana Boyd says she will do homework on her Olympic rivals while competing in Europe this month.

Olympic pole vaulter says she will use European events in the lead up to the games to research her competitors. Picture: Peter Wallis

AUSTRALIAN pole vaulter Alana Boyd says she’ll do homework on her Olympic rivals while in Europe.

The two-time Commonwealth Games champion’s will likely return to action at the Diamond League in Monaco on July 15, weeks smashing her own national record with a clearance of 4.81m.

“I’ll be jumping alongside the girls that will be there in Rio and I am keen to dial myself in to what that competition will be like,” the Melbourne-born Boyd said.

Her new record on the Sunshine Coast last Saturday came three weeks after a comeback from an ankle injury sustained at March’s world indoor championships.

The jump bettered the national record of 4.77m she set in January and was six centimetres higher than the gold medal-winning mark achieved by American Jenn Suhr at the London 2012 Games.

“A jump in the 80s is something I have always hoped I could do and, now having done it with five weeks to go until the Olympic Games, it’s a huge boost,” Boyd said.

“I am feeling good about where I am at.”

She will also compete at a pole vault meet in Jockgrim, Germany and then the Anniversary Games in London before joining the athletic team’s Olympic preparation camp in America.

AUSTRALIAN RECORD | @_AlanaBoyd clears 4.81m on Sunshine Coast to showcase her #PoleVault form ahead of #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/elYnT1DAg4

— Athletics Australia (@AthsAust) July 2, 2016

Originally published as Australian Olympic pole vault star Alana Boyd to use European events to research Rio opponents