Athletics: Hill invests hope in a higher vault

German-born Irie Hill is suddenly thrust into the limelight as reward is offered in Whitlock controversy

Something will be missing at the City of Manchester Stadium today. For the first time in six years, Janine Whitlock will not be the leading British challenger in an international pole-vault competition. She will not be there at all, of course, having been suspended by UK Athletics after testing positive for the anabolic steroid methandienone at the English Commonwealth Games team trials at the Manchester track six weeks ago. In her absence, there will be a new face in pole position as Britain's No 1.

It is for England, rather than Britain, that Irie Hill be competing in the qualifying round for tomorrow night's final. And if she is feeling a little disorientated in her new role it is not because she happens to be a native of Schwab-München, 35 miles west of Munich, and that for the first 27 of her 33 years she happened to live in Germany.

"It has just been all so sudden," she says with a German accent, sitting in her red-and-white England team kit in the tented entrance to the England team block in the Commonwealth Games Village. "To be honest, it hasn't really sunk in yet. I have just been concentrating on my preparation for the Commonwealth Games. There has been so much going on, training-wise, that I haven't been able to think about it."

There is no doubt that the changing of the order in the vanguard of British women's pole- vaulting has come with a mighty jolt. It was only 15 days ago, at the AAA Championships in Birmingham, that Whitlock stood on the top step of the medal rostrum in the Alexander Stadium. The reason for her emotional state only became clear the following day when news of her positive test was announced. She had been Britain's leading lady vaulter since 1996. Hill had been No 2 for three years, and was standing on the second step of the rostrum in Birmingham.

So what does the new No 1 feel about her suspended rival? "I will not comment on any of this," Hill says. "To be honest, I do not know anything other than what I have read in the newspapers, so I do not know more than you do. Sure, when there is a ban everybody always feels sad – sad for the competition, sad for the sport – but, as I say, I have been very busy focusing on my preparation for the Commonwealth Games. These things cannot interfere, because there are still many great athletes in the Games that I have to focus on."

There are indeed, not least Tatiana Grigoreva, who took the Olympic silver medal behind the American Stacy Dragila in Sydney two years ago. The Russian-born Australian leads the Commonwealth rankings for 2002 with a vault of 4.46m. Hill's best this year is 4.15m. She stands eighth in the rankings. but has her sights on the podium.

"Well, everybody always hopes for a medal," she says. "A medal would be absolutely smashing. It is a very tough competition, but it's pole vault. Anything can happen. Everyone can have a bad day."

Hill's lifetime best is 4.20m, which stood as a world best for an over-30 until Dragila joined the ranks of the thirty-somethings last year. Hill was 26 when she took up vaulting. She was Irie Pfeiler back then. She had only been competing for a year when she met Warren Hill at a pole-vault competition in Munich. "I not only won the competition," she reflects, "I won the heart of this lovely man, who brought me over to the UK. I have been living here since 1996 and I became a British citizen in 1999. I had not previously represented Germany, so when Britain asked me if I wanted to compete for them I said, 'Yes, I would love to'."

Hill has been competing with the guidance of her husband as her coach and living as a resident of Hereford. "The food is absolutely fabulous," she says. "I love my Hereford steak." She also loves her Hereford United deeply enough to know about Ronnie Radford and the famous FA Cup win against Newcastle. "That was a long time ago," she says. "Ever since I started following them they have not been doing very well really. I go to Edgar Street every once in a while."

Precisely where Hill goes after Man-chester is not entirely certain. It may well be Munich for the European Championships. Not that the native Bavarian would be vaulting for Britain on her old home soil. She has failed to achieve the selection standard for the British team, 4.25m. She has, however, won a competition for VIP tickets in the German magazine Leichtathletik.

"I'm not quite sure whether I'll go over," she says. "I might give them to my parents instead. I've been invited to compete in the grand prix meeting at Crystal Palace and my main concern will be to prepare for that." It was an invitation that had been earmarked for Whitlock. Now, though, there will be a new British queen of the vault at the Palace.