Caudery sets record in women’s pole vault

Britain’s Molly Caudery set the world’s leading height of the year and broke the British record in women’s pole vault at the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meeting in Toulouse, France, on Saturday.

The 24-year-old cleared a world pole vault lead of 4.92 meters at the Toulouse Capitole Perche for the highest women’s pole vault clearance since 2021 and beat Tokyo Games bronze medallist Holly Bradshaw’s previous British record of 4.90 m.

Caudery had already secured victory with an initial clearance at 4.61 m but continued to push for more and persevered in the rainy conditions. France’s Marie-Julie Bonnin finished second, with 4.51 m.

Caudery, who said she aimed to clinch her first Olympic medal in Paris after winning the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow in March, has taken the current world lead with the seventh best jump of all time.

The Briton cleared 4.73 meters to win bronze at the European Championships in Rome earlier in June. Her previous best was 4.86 m, set in Rouen in February.

“It’s more fire in the belly,” Caudery said of her Bronze medal in Rome. “It just shows that not everything goes to plan all the time. This is a medal at the European Championships.

“It’s a huge positive. It will still be up on my little shrine, it may not be at the very centre, but it will still be up there.”