IMAGINE running at full speed with a 4.5m pole in hand, then planting the slender contraption into the ground to propel yourself more than a storey high, only to free fall straight back down with a huge thud.

Pole vaulting is certainly not for the faint-hearted.

Take it from China's Xu Huiqin, 15, who yesterday soared 3.75m to win the girls' pole vault event at the Asian Youth Games athletics competition at the Bishan Stadium.

'If you don't have guts, you won't make it in pole vault,' said the soft-spoken schoolgirl from Jiaxing city in Zhejiang province, who switched from hurdling to vaulting three years ago.

Huiqin, who admitted to feeling no fear of vaulting at all, beat Japanese Remi Odajima (3.55m). North Korea's Jong Un Sim was third (3.00m).

'Pole vault is the toughest event in athletics,' said China coach Fang Shiquan. 'Athletes need to have good upper-body strength, the leg speed of a sprinter and the agility of a gymnast.'

To that end, the 1.71m-tall, 52kg Huiqin trains twice a day, six days a week.

Her personal best of 3.90m is 10cm off what reigning world record holder and Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva, 27, could vault at the same age.

Huiqin, though, is not dreaming of the Olympics just yet. 'I just hope to return here next year to win the Youth Olympic Games gold medal,' she said.

Another rising star emerged at the athletics competition yesterday. North Korea's Kim Jong Gum, 16, won the girls' triple jump with a 12.34m leap - after picking up the discipline just a year ago.

The heat and unfamiliar conditions, she said, prevented her from coming close to her personal best of 12.8m, which is more than a metre better than Singapore's national Open record of 11.7m.

China's Yang Xiuhong was second (12.17m) and Kazakhstan's Alexandra Solovyeva claimed the bronze ahead of Chinese Taipei's Tsai Chia-lun with her sixth and final leap of 11.91m.

But while the triple jump was a tight contest, the girls' shot put event was more straightforward.

Only two athletes took part - Iran's Nazanin Golahmadi won with her 8.77m effort. Qatar's Omar Ba Fatima - a former wrestler who took up the discipline four months ago - settled for silver with an 8.21m throw.