Boyd's all set to fly in Delhi

AFTER breaking the 4.4m mark three times during the domestic track and field season, Alexandra Head-land pole vaulter Alana Boyd is primed for a tilt at a Commonwealth Games medal.

The 26-year-old, who missed last year’s world championships through injury, will join fellow Australians Liz Parnov and Amanda Bisk in tonight’s final at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi.

“She’s had a couple of injuries in the last couple of years but now she’s fit and healthy,” her brother Matt, who is also a talented pole vaulter, said yesterday.

“If she jumps a PB (4.56m) she’s definitely a medal chance.”

Boyd has had a strong season, in Australia and in Europe, where she has been competing since June and has reached a height of 4.35m in the event.

Given her efforts during the year, Boyd is considered a genuine threat at the Games and she didn’t need to worry about qualifying for the event after Sunday night’s preliminary round was abandoned.

With just a dozen competitors set to contest the women’s pole vault, there was no need for a qualification round and the women will instead be pitched into a do-or-die jump-off tonight (about 10pm AEST).

“The hardest part can be making the final,” Matt said.

The daughter of two Olympians, Ray and Denise, Boyd competed in the world titles in Osaka in 2007 before finishing 15th at the Beijing Olympics with a leap of 4.35m in 2008.

She is joined at the Games by fellow Sunshine Coast athletes Chris Noffke, Nick D’Arcy, Samantha Hamill, Tessa Wallace, Julie Keegan and Kelsey Cottrell.