Boyd to 'dial-in' on Rio rivals in Europe
Australian pole vaulter Alana Boyd says she'll do homework on her Olympic rivals while in Europe.
The two-time Commonwealth Games champion will likely return to action at the Diamond League in Monaco on July 15, weeks after smashing her national record with a clearance of 4.81m.
"I'll be jumping alongside the girls that will be there in Rio and I am keen to dial myself in to what that competition will be like," Boyd said on Wednesday.
Her record on the Sunshine Coast last Saturday came three weeks after a comeback from an ankle injury sustained at March's world indoor championships.
The jump bettered the national record of 4.77m she set in January and was six centimetres higher than the gold medal-winning mark achieved by American Jenn Suhr at the London 2012 Games.
"A jump in the 80s is something I have always hoped I could do and, now having done it with five weeks to go until the Olympic Games, it's a huge boost," Boyd said.
"I am feeling good about where I am at."
She will also compete at a pole vault meet in Jockgrim, Germany and then the Anniversary Games in London before joining the athletic team's Olympic preparation camp in America.
