Feeling healthy and rounding into peak form six weeks before the world track and field championships isn’t enough for Alysha Newman to focus on setting meet records on the Diamond League circuit.
The Canadian pole vaulter has never shied away from admitting she dreams of one day surpassing Yelena Isinbayeva’s 5.06-metre world record, and it’s the Russian who holds the Meeting de Paris mark of 4.91 entering Saturday’s competition in France (CBCSports.ca, 2 p.m. ET). But Newman won’t broach the subject.
“I’m doing everything I can to win my first Diamond League meet and that’s where my head is at,” the 25-year-old said Wednesday over the phone from Germany before clearing 4.50 for the win at the Festungsspringen International Pole Vault Meet. “The 4.91 record is high but do I think I can get it? Of course, but I’m not looking at Diamond League records as much as a world record.”
