The 27-year-old Russian pole vaulter, until recently the sport’s undisputed poster girl, crashed out of her event at 4.75 metres at the World Indoor Championships here yesterday, a challenging height for most of her competitors, but far below her best.

Coming after she failed to win a medal at last year’s World Championships in Berlin, this latest setback will raise questions about whether her long period of dominance in the event is over.

Speaking after finishing fourth in Doha behind Fabiana Murer of Brazil, a fragile-looking Isinbayeva said she would return to Russia to take a rest.

She attributed her defeat to mental tiredness and acknowledged it could be time to take a break.

"I think that I’m just tired mentally," she said.

"It’s the only explanation because you must be really fresh.

"You have to really want to win…

"Maybe I’ve lost this fire.

"I just have to feel it again."

She referred repeatedly to the huge pressure that is heaped on her as a result of her success, saying: "All the time I feel pressure; all the time I feel like I have to be the best…

"There is huge pressure on me all the time.

"Now the [other] girls can share this pressure."

With Russia edged out of the top two in the medals standings for the first time this millennium by Ethiopia and its peerless distance runners, she conceded that the country’s haul of two golds was disappointing. 

She suggested that Russia’s poor recent results might be a matter of timing, with older athletes going off the boil before the next generation are ready to step into their shoes.

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