‘Actually one of many hardest issues of pole vault is getting the poles all over the world’ says GB star who’s aiming to bounce again from heartache of Paris Olympics at World Athletics Championship in Japan; qualification begins within the early hours of Monday morning (UK time)
By Geraint Hughes and Stephen Mills
Final Up to date: 12/09/25 4:51pm
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Crew GB pole vaulter Molly Caudery explains the tough logistics as she transports her competitors poles from Nice Britain to Tokyo for the World Athletics Championships.
Crew GB pole vaulter Molly Caudery explains the tough logistics as she transports her competitors poles from Nice Britain to Tokyo for the World Athletics Championships.
Crew GB pole vault star Molly Caudery is making ready to beat adversity when she takes to the observe on the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo – however she has already overcome one in every of her hardest challenges of the yr.
Getting her poles to Japan.
Pole vaulting might be powerful – medal hope Caudery missed out on final yr’s Olympic closing after failing to clear the bar in qualifying – however the 25-year-old reckons the logistical problem of getting her core gear to the opposite aspect of the world is “one of the hardest things” about her sport.
Elite-level poles might be greater than 5 metres lengthy and Caudery ties hers to the roof of her automobile when travelling to British competitions and airports – however many airways is not going to carry such a big piece of kit.
In actual fact, Caudery believes pole transportation might be a full-time job.
“Honestly one of the hardest things of pole vault is getting the poles around the world,” she informed Sky Sports activities.
“I always say, if I could get one person to do one thing, it would be a complete “pole provider” job. Someone just to do it for me because it can be quite stressful.
“However this time, British Athletics have been wonderful at determining which airways to journey with and making some exceptions, as a result of a number of airways do not carry poles any extra, which makes it even tougher.
“Sometimes we have to take detours around the world to get to places, but I actually got really lucky and got on a direct flight to Tokyo with my poles.
“They will match on a airplane as a result of they’ll match on a bus. They are not fairly possibly as huge as folks assume, however I do get a whole lot of humorous seems to be strolling by way of the airport.”
Medal possibilities in Japan
Molly Caudery has to transport poles all over the world for major competitions
Now that Caudery – and her poles – have arrived safely in Japan, she can turn her attention to delivering a medal for Britain after her heartache in Paris last summer.
She skipped a number of tournaments this season to allow a minor calf injury to heal, but that has allowed her to find form and focus as she bids to improve on her fifth place at the last World Championships in 2023.
“The ups and downs are inevitable, however I actually do assume I am in a great place,” she added.
“It is not been the proper season or fairly the season I imagined. I’ve needed to cope with a couple of setbacks resulting from harm and issues like that, however I really feel like I’ve bounced again simply in time.
“I missed a few competitions earlier on in the year, but I feel like actually that’s allowed me to be fresh for now and that’s a great place to be.
“I had my breakthrough a few years in the past in Budapest on the final World Championships, so I am unable to wait to exit at this one and see what I can do.”
Caudery finished second at the Memorial Van Damme Diamond League event in Brussels
After an injury-hit season, she jumped 4.85m to win the British title last month before taking second in a competitive Diamond League event in Brussels.
She hinted she has been holding some form in reserve to protect her body, but is willing to take risks in Tokyo as she bids to topple her own British record of 4.92m.
“I jumped 4.80m at my final Diamond League and simply missed out. I got here second, however that is nonetheless a really stable efficiency.
“Taking that confidence into a Worlds is great. It just kind of proves that you can.
“I used to be sick in Budapest a couple of weeks in the past competing, but when I take that out, I’ve jumped 4.80m or 4.85m very constantly over the previous couple of competitions.
“I do think there’s more I can jump. I know I can jump higher.
“Like I mentioned, we have simply been coping with a few little accidents, so in competitors, I’ve both stopped or simply tried to maintain a cap on it.
“I think here we would like to take that cap off and just see how high I can go.”
‘I will simply give it every little thing’
Caudery was devastated when she failed to achieve the Olympic closing in 2024 in Paris
Caudery is a former World Indoor champion, however insists that achievement is nowhere close to as huge as successful a serious outside medal.
She entered qualifying in Paris final yr at 4.55m – 35cm greater than any of her rivals – and it proved a pricey mistake as she didn’t register a top.
She hopes to atone for that Olympic heartache in Los Angeles in 2028, however is first dreaming of victory on the Japan Nationwide Stadium this week.
“Of course, Olympics is the number one dream, but just below that is being a world champion or a world medallist.
“In fact, that is what I am aiming for, though this time I am not going to get caught up in serious about the ultimate an excessive amount of. I’ve bought to get by way of that qualification first, in fact.
“Once I hopefully get there, I’ll just give it everything.
“It is an enormous, enormous purpose of mine. In fact, having an indoor international medal is an enormous deal, however it would not actually examine to the outside medals, in my view.
“I’d really like to have a strong comeback and prove what I can do out there.”
