Pole vaulter Holly Bleasdale edged out by Olympic champion

Holly Bleasdale

Pole vaulter Holly Bleasdale continued her fine start to Olympic year by narrowly losing to world record holder Yelena Isinbaeva in an indoor event.

The 20-year-old, one of Great Britain's stand-out performers in 2012, cleared the same 4.68m height as the Russian.

Bleasdale was denied a Pedro Cup victory on countback as Isinbaeva needed just two attempts to her three.

But the Brit beat a number of Olympic medal hopefuls in Poland to cement her place among the world's elite.

Bleasdale recently catapulted to third on the all-time indoor list when she leapt to 4.87m at a meet in Lyon.

And she continued her fine form ahead of London 2012 by matching Isinbaeva, who won Olympic gold in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, in a star-studded line-up.

The Blackburn Harriers star beat 2009 world champion Anna Rogowska, who vaulted 4.60m in her first outing of the season, into third and Pan-American champion Yarisley Silva finished fourth.

Former world record holder Svetlana Feofanova and multi World Championship medallist Monika Pyrek also competed at the Bydgoszcz event.