Diamond riches can wait

Kiwi pole vault sensation Eliza McCartney looks set to forego a potential US$50,000 (NZ$72,000) Diamond League series win bonus because she does not want to compromise her 2018 Commonwealth Games campaign.

McCartney, the 20-year-old Olympic bronze medallist from Devonport, on Auckand’s North Shore, leaves New Zealand on May 30 to begin her buildup for August’s world championships in London.

It will be her first tilt at the outdoors global championships, and will be her pinnacle event for 2017. But she will also take part in a scheduled four Diamond League meets prior to the world champs, in Rome (June 8), Oslo (June 15), Stockholm (June 18) and London (July 9).

But it’s the question of whether she will remain behind post-world champs to compete in the newlook Diamond League finals, and chase the $72,000 bonus at stake for event champions, that right now throws up a surprising answer. The women’s pole vault final will be in Brussels on September 1, nearly three weeks after the world championships.

‘‘I’m unsure yet,’’ she says of plans to stay on for the new-look Diamond League finale. ‘‘At the moment it’s no.

‘‘It is a potential big payday. But the thing I’m weighing up at the moment is I haven’t been to a Commonwealth Games before and because it’s in April it’s really soon after I get back from the world champs and I want to make sure I have good preparation for it.

‘‘I want to really nail it, and the only risk of doing the Diamond League finals is it’s another month overseas, and then it’s less time to prepare for the Commonwealth Games.’’

McCartney, who has the second best outdoor vault in the world in 2017 with her 4.82m Oceania record clearance in Auckland in February, admits the Diamond League crown would be tempting to chase.

‘‘It’s not a definite no, but at the moment my thinking is more around the future and not rushing things so I’m fully prepared for the Commonwealth Games.’’