Earlier today, Kebba posted the subject line, Birmingham: W PV WR - 4.77, without additional details. This would have referred to Svetlana Feofanova's winning mark at this meet.
In a later exchange on the VaultCanada mailing list, I took exception to the description of this result, by VaultnGus, as a "World Record." Specifically, Sorry, Gus. The WPV World Record is 4.81 by Stacy Dragila at Palo Alto on 9 June 2001. For the last two years, the IAAF has done its best to screw up the distinction between indoor and outdoor records by permitting indoor marks to supercede outdoor marks as "absolute" world records, but there's nothing in that to make Feofanova's 4.77 more than an "Indoor World Record," or, in historical terms, "World Indoor Best." Feofanova seems far more interested in the financial benefits of raising her PB by a centimeter, than by vaulting the best she can at any time in her career. Did she try any height after bettering her indoor best in the Birmingham meet? I think the test will come when/if she has to look at a minimum 5cm raise when she no longer is the only vaulter left in a competition. I also think Dragila is far more experienced in rising to that challenge. My money's on Stacy (but, of course, those are only Canadian dollars, at par with 65 cents U.S.). My two cents' worth (1.32 cents U.S.). Cheers