Greenville native Sandi Morris left this weekend’s IAAF World Athletic Championship in Doha, Qatar, with a silver medal in the pole vault.
The University of Arkansas graduate is a 2018 world champion and a 2016 Rio Olympic Games silver medalist. Her world championship experience began in 2015 with outdoor events; she added indoor championship experience to her repertoire in 2016.
This weekend’s competition saw Morris and Anzhelika Sidorova battling to secure their first major outdoor titles. IAAF reports that both athletes produced heights over 4.90 meters. Morris and Sidorova were the only competitors to reach this height.
Photos: Greenville’s Sandi Morris wins Liberty Bridge Jump Off
An opening height of 4.50 meters, the highest ever start at the world championships, did nothing to eliminate competitors; a record 17 athletes advanced to the final after topping the automatic qualifying height of 4.60 meters in Friday’s qualification round.
The next height, 4.70 meters, eliminated only four.
Just six athletes remained after 4.80 meters, eliminating 2015 world champion Yarisley Silva and 2012 Olympic champion Jenn Suhr.
