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Molly Caudery’s memorable year – AW

Molly Caudery's memorable year - AW

The Commonwealth pole vault silver medallist explains how she managed to overcome serious injury to reach new heights in 2022

The sensitive content warning that accompanies Molly Caudery’s Instagram post is an intriguing conversation starter. The 22-year-old Commonwealth Games pole vault silver medallist this summer almost lost a finger in a gym accident a year ago and the hidden image, which is optional to view, presents a graphic account of her traumatic experience.

“When I first did it I didn’t look down, I just thought: ‘I’ll shake it off, it’s probably not as bad as I think’, and it was worse. A lot worse,” she recalls.  

“I’d gone home [to Cornwall] for the Christmas holidays and I was carrying on with my normal gym programme. I was doing snatch, and as I brought the bar down from above my head I caught my finger between the bar and where you rack it, and it just went straight through. It was hanging on by a thread, really.”

Caudery ended up having three surgeries, with the first on Christmas Eve. 

“It was tough [getting through that injury period], because leading up to Christmas I was in the best shape I’d ever been in,” she admits. “I had this traumatic event. It was unexpected. It wasn’t like a pulled hamstring. I mean, I basically chopped my finger off.”

The 12 months since then have been a whirlwind, with a return to competition at the start of May, a lifetime best of 4.60m at the end of May and an intense schedule of World Championships, Commonwealth Games and European Championships providing a condensed summer. 

Molly Caudery (Mark Shearman)

“That PB set me up for the rest of the season,” says Caudery, who had jumped her previous best (4.53m) as an 18-year-old. “One of my main aims for this year was to be more consistent at higher heights and I’ve achieved that.

“I had a bit of a disappointment at the World Champs, but just to get there was a massive step. I came back at the Commonwealths, which was amazing, and then I finished on a high with a top eight at the Europeans, so overall it was my best year yet.” 

Caudery is a former European under-20 silver medallist (2017), a world under-20 finalist (2018) and European under-23 silver medallist (2021). Her performance CV is impressive, but since earning her first England senior vest and finishing fifth at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, injury is not the only hurdle she has had to overcome.

Most notably, having taken up a scholarship…

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