Molly Caudery went from almost losing a finger to becoming an Instagram sensation… now Britain’s pole vault queen hopes to inspire a new generation at the Paris Olympics

Molly Caudery is a leading pole vaulter, star baker, amateur surfer and Instagram star influencer.

But she wants to set the record straight about something she isn’t.

“To be clear: no, I am not actually a model,” the 23-year-old laughs about false reports that she has a part-time job outside of athletics.

“There was one article that posted something. But that’s not actually something I do. Word on the street is that I need to go to bed!’

The only time you’ll see Caudery on a runway is in an athletics stadium with a pole in hand.

She won the UK Indoor Championships in Birmingham earlier this month with 4.85m

No woman in the pole vault this year has jumped higher than Caudery’s 4.86 meters

However, the rising British star is now on the books of a major clothing brand.

“At the beginning of this year I signed with Adidas,” says Caudery.

“I’d never had an equipment deal before that, so that helped me a lot and opened my eyes to what being an athlete can be. It’s so exciting for me to be a part of it now.”

Caudery’s new sponsorship deal came off the back of her fifth-place finish at last year’s World Championships in Budapest.

Adidas will no doubt also have taken note of the Cornish athlete’s 200,000 followers on Instagram, where she combines footage of her training with photos of her on holiday.

“I don’t know where it really comes from,” Caudery says of her enormous social media profile.

‘Lately I’ve been posting a lot of pole vaulting videos and that’s gaining me about 10,000 extra followers.

‘I think having so many followers is super important. People have said that athletics is not as big as it used to be.

“So if I can inspire one person from the next generation, let alone the 200,000 or so people who follow me, to get involved in athletics and keep it going, that would be great.”

Caudery insisted she is not a model, despite her popularity on Instagram

The 23-year-old combines photos from her holiday with her pole vaulting photos on social media

Caudery admitted to being very surprised by her popularity on Instagram

Caudery will surely inspire many more people if she continues to raise the bar as she has done. After finishing fifth in Budapest with what was then her best jump of 4.75 metres, she won the UK Indoor Championships in Birmingham earlier this month with 4.85.

Last weekend in France she added another inch to her world leadership, meaning she goes into the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow this weekend as favorite for gold.

“To go from my personal best of 4.60 at the beginning of last year to 4.86 already this year, it all happened very quickly for me,” she says.

“I have gained so much confidence from last year and I have improved physically and mentally and I think this has taken me to the next step.

‘At the start of the season, an indoor world medal was not a clear goal. But now I can no longer ignore the fact that I consistently jump 4.80. If I can keep doing what I’m doing, there might be a medal in the offing and that’s exciting.’

Not only is a medal on the horizon in Glasgow, it is now also a very real possibility in Paris.

At the Tokyo Olympics, Caudery’s British teammate and Loughborough training partner Holly Bradshaw took bronze with 4.85. The gold was won with 4.90, Bradshaw’s current British record, and a height that Caudery looks set to scale.

“It’s every athlete’s dream to win an Olympic medal,” she says.

Caudery is also among the favorites to secure a medal at the Paris Olympics