Team GB athlete Holly Bradshaw was in ‘floods of tears’ after quite literally crashing out of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Bradshaw, competing at her final Olympics, failed to clear 4.40m after three attempts, bowing out of the women’s pole vault at the Stade de France.
The 32-year-old cleared 4.85m to claim bronze at Tokyo 2020 but could not get anywhere near that height in Paris.
One of her attempts went badly wrong and she was sent flying by the pole, almost crashing into a cameraman positioned on the side of the runway.
When another camera picked Bradshaw up she was getting to her feet from the grass inside the Olympic running track and brushing herself down.
Bradshaw initially looked relatively calm but struggling at her final Olympics then resulted in an outpouring of emotion and she slumped to her knees beside the poles which athletes choose from.
There she was consoled by fellow Team GB pole vaulter Molly Caudery, who entered the competition at 4.55m.
‘Molly should qualify, as at the moment she’s the best in the world,’ former GB 400m runner Katharine Merry said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
‘It’s a real passing of the pole in British pole vaulting, as the Olympic bronze medallist Holly Bradshaw has sadly left the competition with three failures – it’s a real changing of the guard.
‘Bradshaw is in floods of tears having being eliminated, she is being consoled by Caudery.’
Unfortunately there was more pole vault misery for Team GB as Caudery, 24, also crashed out of the event after failing to make 4.55m in three attempts.
Caudery came into the Games having won the world indoor title and setting a British record but failed to reproduce that form in Paris.
On Caudery’s exit, Merry added: ‘Molly Caudery has exited the Olympic Games. She has had three failures at her opening height and she took the bar down.
‘She is thanking the crowd, but her head is in her hands – one of the big medal hopes is out.
‘Nobody is going to believe this. This is the biggest shock in the track and field of this Olympics.
‘Molly Caudery has gone over a height of 4.92m [this season] – 4cm higher than anyone else in the world.
‘She decided to come in at a opening height of 4.55m. In her pool nobody else entered at that height, everyone else came in at an earlier height.’
Following Caudery’s shock exit, it was Bradshaw’s turn to offer a shoulder to cry on as Great Britain’s hopes in the women’s pole vault were quickly shattered.
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