The eagerly awaited 2006 debut of Yelena Isinbayeva, for two years running the World Athlete of the Year, will be the premiere attraction as the world,s pole vaulting elite gather at Sunday,s 17th edition of the Zepter Pole Vault Stars Meeting in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.

The 23-year-old Russian, the reigning World, Olympic and World Indoor champion, raised the World record in each of her previous two competitions in Donetsk, first in 2004 with first attempt clearances of 4.81 and 4.83, and again last year, when she reached 4.87. In each case, it would be the beginning of the Volgograd native's season-long World record setting spree that now totals 18 in all at the senior level.

With her absolute World record now resting at 5.01, anything less than a 4.91 effort in Donetsk, one nudging her current indoor standard up by a centimeter, would be nothing short of disappointing to fans and more so to Isinbayeva herself, who has stated repeatedly that her goal is to surpass the legendary Sergey Bubka's World record tally of 35. Donetsk will be the first of three indoor competitions for Isinbayeva this winter prior to the World Indoor Championships in Moscow next month.

Fittingly, the annual competition is organized and hosted by Bubka, the six-time World champion and 1988 Olympic gold medallist whose 6.15 vault from 1993, the highest clearance ever, came before his hometown crowd in Donetsk,s Sport Palace ,,Druzbao/oo. And once again, Bubka has attracted the finest possible line-up in both the men's and women's competitions.

Five of the six women who followed Isinbayeva in Helsinki last summer will chase her once again in Donetsk, a prized invitation for pole vaulters on the international circuit. While Isinbayeva stole the show last year, several others used the highly-charged, festive atmosphere to achieve personal bests.

Among them were the Polish duo of Anna Rogowska and Monika Pyrek, who finished second and third with 4.75 and 4.70 efforts. Outdoors, Pyrek improved to 4.72 and won the silver medal in Helsinki, while Rogowska, who faltered in Helsinki, improved to 4.83 outdoors to equal U.S. record holder Stacy Dragila as the No. 3 vaulter of all-time. The 24- year-old Rogowska has already managed 4.70 this season, the year's best thus far, while Pyrek has a 4.65 effort to her credit this winter.

Czech Pavla Hamackova, the Helsinki bronze medallist and 2001 World indoor champion, will make her Donestk debut, hoping that the raucous surroundings will propel her to challenge her 4.57 indoor best from 2003. Russian Tatyana Polnova, fourth in Helsinki and tied for fourth in Donetsk last year, has bests of 4.71 indoors and 4.78 outdoors, fifth on both the World all-time indoor and outdoor lists.

Jillian Schwartz, fourth at the 2004 World Indoor Championships, is off to a strong start after a 4.55 clearance, and leads a strong U.S. trio that includes Kellie Suttle and former World and Olympic champion Stacy Dragila. Dragila, now the event,s elder stateswoman at 34, hasn,t competed since failing to qualify for the Helsinki final last summer. Her still-standing national records of 4.83 outdoors and 4.81 indoors were set less than two years ago, suggesting that the event,s standard bearer for much of the past decade is not yet ready to step aside.

While the women will clearly be chasing Isinbayeva, the men,s competition promises to be fiercely competitive.

Leading the field is Brad Walker, the young American who emerged last year as the world,s top vaulter. Fourth at this event last year, Walker went on to capture the silver medal in Helsinki before raising his outdoor best to 5.96 in Rieti in September. Second to compatriot Jeff Hartwig at last weekend,s Millrose Games, Walker won his first two outings of the year and will head to Ukraine immediately after the Powered by Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville on Friday.

Last year, American Derek Miles upped his indoor best to 5.85 to win the star-studded competition, and returns to try to make it two in a row. Also returning is Igor Pavlov of Russia, who reached 5.90 indoors last year to win the European indoor title, the highest clearance last winter.

Reigning Olympic gold and Silver medallists Tim Mack and Toby Stevenson will also return to Donetsk. Mack, kept away last year due to injury, reached his indoor best of 5.85 in this competition in 2002. Stevenson, like Mack a member of the event,s six-metet club, was third at Millrose and has a 5.60 best thus far this season.

Hartwig, the U.S. record holder, has jumped six meters indoors and outdoors and at 38 is showing little sign of slowing. After his 5.73 win at Millrose, Hartwig is currently fifth among vaulters this season.

Helsinki bronze medallist, Russian Pavel Gerasimov and 2003 World champion Giuseppe Gibilisco of Italy return as well, while top Ukrainians Ruslan Yeremenko and Denys Yurchenko will be among the crowd favorites.