The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Monaco

A world record jump from Russia pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva and a third straight 100m win from Asafa Powell were the highlights of Tuesday's Monaco Super Grand Prix meeting.

Isinbayeva set a new women's polevault world best of 5.04m, the Olympic and double world champion bettering her previous world record of 5.03m set in Rome on July 11.

Her 23rd world record was established on her third attempt to cement her standing as firm favourite for gold at the Beijing Olympic Games next month.

After seeing the bar tremble but unlike London last Friday remain in place Isinbayeva embarked on a lap of honour to celebrate this latest milestone of her outstanding career.

"Honestly I wasn't worried because I didn't feel that I'd touched the bar," she said.

Looking ahead to the Olympics she added: "To win there I think I'll have to beat the world record again."

Earlier Powell won his third 100 metres event inside a week, cruising to victory with a season-best time of 9.82sec suggesting he has Beijing gold bang in his sights next month. Powell shaved 0.06sec off his previous season-best of 9.88, set last Tuesday in Stockholm, where he saw off fellow Jamaican and world record holder Usain Bolt.

On Tuesday Powell saw off Davis Patton of the United States (9.98) and Nesta Carter of Jamaica (10.02), the fourth best time of the season all the more impressive given the windless conditions.

Bolt's 9.72 mark set on May 31 in New York in contrast was achieved with wind of 1.7 m/s.

"I am very happy," smiled Powell. "I feel great, very fresh. I've got a world record in my legs. I am very confident. My goal is to be consistent."

A tough headwind had compromised Powell's attempts to have a tilt at Bolt's mark although he still cruised to a weekend victory at the London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace in 9.94sec.

But three quick-fire wins on the trot have laid to rest any doubts that Powell might not have bounced back sufficiently from a shoulder problem which dogged him for several weeks.

Cramping in his groin also forced him to scratch from the final of the 100 meters earlier this month at the Golden League meeting in Rome.

His showings over the past seven days suggest he is ready to see off allcomers at the Olympics and shrug off a disappointing third place at last year's worlds, won by US racer Tyson Gay, who missed an expected London duel as he recovers from a hamstring injury suffered during the US Olympic trials.

Other Tuesday highlights saw Jamaica's Melaine Walker set a year mark in the women's 400 meters hurdles in clocking 53.48 sec.

Lashinda Demus of the United States had been half a second slower in timing 53.99 on May 8 in Fort-de-France on Martinique for the previous year best mark.

Walker, who shattered her own personal best of 54.14 in the process, will hope her performance augurs well for the Beijing Games, where Aussie two-time world champion Jana Rawlinson will not be competing owing to a toe injury.

Kenyan Daniel Kipchirchir Komen also set a year best mark in the 1500 meters, crossing the line in 3 min 31.49sec to take 0.08sec off compatriot Augustine Kiprono Choge's June 1 showing in Berlin.

The 23-year-old's win tempered the disappointment of missing out on an Olympic berth.

Home fans had little to cheer as France's former heptathlon and long jump world champion Eunice Barber saw her season hit a new low when she came in bottom of the heap in the long-jump in Monaco.

The 33-year-old Sierra Leone-born athlete - world champion in the heptathlon in 1999 and then long jump queen in 2003 - had already failed to qualify for her fifth Olympic Games last Saturday in failing by 18 centimeters to reach the qualifying mark for the long jump at the French national championships.

This time, she came in tenth and rank last with a jump of 6.27 meters as Portugal's Naide Gomes won with 7.12 meters for a year best mark, besting the 7.04 she shared with Russian Lyudmila Kolchanova. French sprinter and European 100m record holder Christine Arron meanwhile failed to recover from a dreadful start in clocking 11.24 sec for a disastrous seventh place in a race won in 10.94 by Jamaican Kerron Stewart, who saw off compatriot Sherone Simpson.