Redemption or just moving on…

Redemption or just moving on

At the Paris Olympics, two British athletes in their first Olympics, saw their hopes go up in smoke. Jeremiah Azu, a potential finalist in the 100m, false started and his individual Olympics was over (he did gain a relay medal). Pole-vaulter, Molly Caudery entered 2024 with a PR of 4.75 and then during the year passed 4.80 nine times, including a 4.92). Yet when it came to Olympic Games qualifying round she recorded three failures – a no mark.

Speaking to both athletes this week before and after the World Indoors, it was interesting to see how the two processed their Paris heartache.

Molly talked honestly about the heartache of Paris and the criticism from the armchair critics that she had come in too high. “Paris was no anomaly. There was no reason I should have come in earlier. Knowing what we now know, maybe I would have taken the bar before, but I don’t think that would have made a difference. I just wasn’t rolling the poles through. I don’t think the actual height of the bar would have made a difference. I know what I can jump. So, no, I probably won’t change anything. I don’t think it really was down to anything. Probably on average, I may have ‘no height’ once a year, or most athletes may have ‘no height’ once a year or once every two years. And mine just happened to be in the biggest competition of my life. It’s not ideal, but what can I do now? I think all I can do is learn from it and not let it happen again. I’ve spoken to my coach a lot about it, and we can’t put it down to much more than it was a bad day to have a bad day, which is unfortunate. I don’t really have any excuses for it, but it was a good learning experience, and I’ve kind of moved on”.

She also explained something that many people – like me – don’t instantly get about balancing getting over the bar and preserving energy: “It’s finding a balance. I would love to attempt five meters this year. To get to five meters, if I come in at four metres, then there’s going to be 10 bars to go through. I know that’s extreme but if I come in at 4.50, then it’s probably only five bars. So there’s finding the sweet spot is important. I’m not someone who’s going to come in at 4.70. That is too high. But around that 4.50 mark is comfortable for me. And as long as I don’t do anything really crazy, like I may have in Paris, it should be fine. Like I said, that was an unfortunate anomaly. Besides that, I’m…