Molly Caudery fights back the tears as her dreams of Olympic gold vanish after crashing out in pole vault qualifying… as Team GB team-mate Holly Bradshaw rushes to console her teammate
- Molly Caudery jumped higher than anyone else in the world this year
- However, she missed all three attempts at her opening height of 4.55 meters
- Teammate Holly Bradshaw failed to clear 4.40m and therefore also missed the final
Molly Caudery’s dream of an Olympic gold medal has been dashed after she fell during pole vault qualifying.
The British record holder arrived in Paris as one of the favourites, having jumped higher than anyone else in the world this year.
But Caudery missed all three attempts at her opening height of 4.55 metres – well short of her personal best of 4.92 metres set last month – meaning she will not be in Wednesday night’s final.
The 24-year-old stood with her hands on her head after her final effort, in which she nearly missed the mat on the way back.
Caudery clapped for the audience and burst into tears as her competitors ran to comfort her.
Molly Caudery’s dreams of an Olympic gold medal are over after she crashes during pole vault qualifying
The 24-year-old missed all three attempts at her opening height of 4.55 metres
“It’s heartbreaking,” Caudery said. “It wasn’t the Olympic experience I had hoped for.
‘I feel so bad for everyone at home and I wish I could have done better for everyone and of course for myself, but I’m going to try to learn from this.
“I’m in the best shape of my life, I had a great warm-up, I didn’t feel too nervous, I love a big crowd. And for some reason it wasn’t my day. I’m going to talk to my coach and figure some things out.”
Moments earlier, the indoor world champion had been a shoulder to cry on for her teammate Holly Bradshaw, who failed to clear the 4.40m and therefore also missed the final.
Bradshaw, who won Britain’s first pole vault medal with bronze at Tokyo 2020, will retire from the sport at the end of the season.
“I’m just devastated,” said the tearful 32-year-old. “I’ve only got a few games left so I’m heartbroken. It’s been a really tough year and I wanted to do myself proud but I really feel like I didn’t.
“This is the first time I’ve been pain free all year, so I don’t really know what happened. I know it sounds crazy, but the track and the environment and everything was too good and I got caught on my back foot, which is frustrating in pole vaulting.”
Teammate Holly Bradshaw (left) failed to clear 4.40m and therefore also missed the final
“I just wanted to come out and make my dad proud. He passed away in November and I really hope I did that, even though it wasn’t going well.
“My priority now is to become a mother, so I would like to start a family with my husband.”