After finishing her season with another gold medal at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix meet on Sunday, Russian pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva held a clinic with her legendary coach, Vitaly Petrov, on Monday at the China team's Shanghai Xinzhuang training base.
Organized by Isinbayeva's Chinese sponsor, Li-Ning, the event offered the opportunity for Chinese pole vaulters to learn from the master coach whose many elite charges have included Sergey Bubka, who broke the world record 35 times.
His current star pupil, Isinbayeva, is the world-record holder at 5.06 meters.
During the two-hour session, Petrov taught basic training techniques, explained how to identify young talent and answered questions from local coaches. Meanwhile, Isinbayeva put on a show for the young Chinese athletes.
Petrov was full of praise for the local pole vaulters but said they still had to improve their overall abilities.
"I have watched Chinese athletes a lot of times and I think they are talented and have good techniques," said Petrov.
"However, their training period should be longer and the coaches should have more experience."
About 20 Chinese coaches and athletes attended the clinic and the athletes were excited to communicate with their idols.
"I'm very excited to train with (Isinbayeva) like this. Actually, some of her training methods are very much like ours, which confirms that our methods are all right," said Li Ling of the national team.
Source: China Daily
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