World Indoor title is only global gold medal missing on decorated resume of Greek star, Stanford graduate

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Katerina Stefanidi might not challenge the pole vault world record Saturday at the IAAF World Indoor Championships at Arena Birmingham.

But the Greek star is looking to clear the biggest bar at this stage of her career by capturing the only global gold medal missing from one of the sport’s most decorated resumes.

Stefanidi, 28, has European Indoor and Outdoor crowns. She is the reigning Olympic and World Outdoor champion, in addition to winning consecutive Diamond League titles. But a bronze medal at the 2016 World Indoor Championships in Portland, Ore., has served as motivation and a regular reminder the past two years to perform at her best when the stakes are the highest.

“Every championship I’ve gone into I say, ‘This is going to be the hardest one to win.’ I said that in Amsterdam, I said that in Rio, I said that in London and I say this now, ‘This is going to be the hardest one to win,’” said Stefanidi, who has won 19 consecutive meets, including eight in a row indoors.

“This kind of pressure is what I thrive under. I love pole vault. I like training, I love competing, but what I truly love is competing at championships. This is what track and field is. I’ve done good during the indoor season, but I’m ready to do my championship performance here.”

Stefanidi is looking to become the first female vaulter to hold both European titles, both World Championship gold medals and the Olympic crown simultaneously since Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva captured all five championships from 2004-06.

But Stefanidi, an NCAA indoor and outdoor champion at Stanford in 2012, can achieve a feat not even Isinbayeva accomplished during her legendary career by capturing the Olympic gold medal, along with both World Championship titles and winning the Diamond League series.

“That’s cool, I like that, but like I said, it’s a championship and to me, that’s all that matters, and it’s a World Championship, plus it’s the only one I haven’t won,” said Stefanidi, who is closing in on Isinbayeva’s 23-meet winning streak from 2006-08.

“It’s another championship to me, so it’s important to me no matter what. It would be cool to have all the five gold medals and I would be getting them in a row, so it’s cool to think about.

“At this point when people ask me, ‘How do you stay motivated?’ I just find little things. For every championship, I find something new to motivate me.”

Facing one of the deepest fields in World Indoor history is all the motivation Stefanidi needs, as she enters the competition with the No. 4 clearance in the world this year at 15 feet, 10 inches (4.83m).

American Katie Nageotte, like Stefanidi, a Nike athlete represented by agent Karen Locke, cleared a world-leading 16-1.25 (4.91m) to win the USATF Indoor title Feb. 18 and followed it up Sunday with a 15-11.25 (4.86m) clearance to win All-Star Perche in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

Sandi Morris, who has represented the U.S. with silver medals at the Olympics, along with the World Indoor and World Outdoor finals, has cleared 16-0.75 (4.90m) and 2014 World Indoor silver medalist Anzhelika Sidorova of Russia, competing as an authorized neutral athlete, has a 15-11.75 (4.87m) clearance.

“Since Rio I have felt like there is a target on my back and I think everybody’s goal is to beat me,” said Stefanidi, who has won 20 of 24 competitions since the Olympics.

“There is a pressure, but I think this is what works for me. It’s kind of a privilege to have the pressure that this is the only gold medal I’m missing. Of course, going into a championship, the first goal is to always get on the podium and get any medal.

“I can’t control what the other girls will do, but I know if I do what I should do, I will be on the podium and from there, we will fight for the gold medal.”

If Stefanidi and American Sam Kendricks can both capture pole vault titles in Birmingham, it will mark the first time in more than a decade the same male and female athletes won both World Outdoor and World Indoor gold medals in succession.

“It just comes back to consistency. Katerina and Sam have done something not a lot of pole vaulters at any time of any decade have done,” said Mitch Krier, Stefanidi’s husband and coach.

“It goes back to their mindsets and what’s behind them. There’s a lot of training hours with great fundamentals and a balance of everything and I think they are both very good at that and neither of them are outliers that people can’t gain toward.

“Sam and Katerina I think are very similar. They both grip low, probably both gripping the lowest in the field, neither of them are very fast and they have a very holistic approach. They understand what it takes, they work toward what it takes and they both work very hard to get to the level they’re at.”

When the pole vault was held as a separate competition to open World Indoors two years ago at the Oregon Convention Center, Stefanidi said it felt more like an exhibition than a championship event, resulting in a 15-9 (4.80m) clearance a third-place finish behind Americans Jenn Suhr and Morris.

But as one of eight championships to be decided Saturday night, Stefanidi won’t have to worry about the energy and intensity being present at Arena Birmingham in her pursuit of history.

“What I do best is compete at the championships, so that hurt me a little bit (in 2016),” Stefanidi said. “But no excuses this time around.”