Venezuela's Peinado reaches top of world ranking in pole vault

Venezuelan pole vaulter Robeilys Peinado climbed to the first spot in the Under 20 world ranking, the Venezuelan Athletics Federation announced on Wednesday.

Peinado, 18, secured first place after winning the silver medal in the Street Pole Vault tournament held in Athens, Greece.

"I am happy and thankful to God for all the opportunities, experience and learning that he has given me every day," said the Venezuelan athlete through social networks after receiving her medal in Athens' Syntagma Square, along with the tournament's best athletes, according to Xinhua.

In May 2015, Peinado won her ticket to Rio 2016 after jumping 4.6 metres, four cms short of the youth world record which is currently held by New Zealand's Eliza McCartney.

With the 4.6 metres jump, the Venezuelan athlete qualified for the Olympics as she jumped higher than the height fixed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) which was 4.5 metres.

In 2016, Peinado registered an pole vault of 4.5 metres which was enough to come away with first place in the in the IAAF's ranking. With this jump, she knocked Mackenzie Shell, from the US, off the top spot who had registered a jump of 4.41 metres.

The Venezuelan heard Venezuela's national anthem sound, for the first time in any category at a world track and field contest, in the Ukraine in 2013 when she became the youth champion at the World Youth Championships.

Peinado won the silver medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, in 2014. During that year she also won the bronze medal in the Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico.

The same year, Peinado also came home with the silver medal in the South American Championships held in Santiago, Chile -- where she jumped 4.2 metres.

The Venezuelan was champion at the First South American Youth Games held in Lima 2013 (four metres) and the Bolivarian Games 2013 in Trujillo (4.3 metres) and she came in second place at the South American Games Santiago 2014 (4.2 metres).

In the Pan American Games 2015 held in Toronto, Canada, Peinado came in 6th place in the general leaderboard with 4.4. metres.

Also in the same year she was crowned champion of the (Adult) South American Championships in Lima, Peru, with a pole vault of 4.35 metres guaranteeing her the gold medal.

--IANS

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