DONETSK (Ukraine), Feb 17: Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva broke the world indoor pole vault record by clearing 4.95 metres at the Sergei Bubka invitational meeting on Saturday.

The Russian beat her own mark of 4.93 set in the same competition organised by the great Ukrainian pole vaulter in his home town a year ago.

It was the third consecutive year in which she improved on the indoor record.

Isinbayeva twice failed to clear 4.94 before raising the bar one centimetre to set her 21st world record, indoor and outdoor.

“I’m really happy with my performance here because it has been a long time, 12 months to be exact, since I last broke the world record,” the 25-year-old told reporters.

Isinbayeva became the first woman to break the outdoor five metres barrier in July 2005 in London before vaulting 5.01 at the world championships in Helsinki the following month.—Reuters