Young pole vault star set for surgery after pole snap

‘‘She’s still got two legs and can still sprint and run so she’s not going to lose too much from a training point of view.’’ Nick Cowan, manager of Olivia McTaggart, above

New Zealand’s rising pole vault star Olivia McTaggart is expected to be back competing in time for September’s IAAF World Championships despite requiring surgery following a frightening incident last week.

The 19-year-old’s pole snapped mid-air while attempting 4.40m during the Vertical Pursuit on Auckland’s Federal St and she was in obvious discomfort, holding her wrist when she got up off the mat.

Although McTaggart bravely soldiered on and had two more attempts at the height, her manager Nick Cowan said it was later revealed that the Commonwealth Games representative had fractured a bone in her wrist and will now undergo surgery on Tuesday to correct it.

‘‘She’s fractured her trapezium at the bottom of her thumb. It’s a serious enough injury to warrant some concern but we’re all fairly confident with how it’s looking at this stage,’’ he said.

Cowan said McTaggart was unaware how serious the injury was at the time, which is why she continued competing.

‘‘She was running off adrenaline and there’s the typical athlete [attitude] of ‘nah, nah, nah, I’ve just sprained it’ type situation. A lot of these things, particularly with hands, you don’t know until you’ve had an X-ray or an MRI the full extent of it anyway.’’

Cowan also rubbished reports that McTaggart’s injury could jeopardise her hopes of qualifying for the World Championships in September, saying she is expected back for the World University Games in July and could yet feature at the Oceania Championships in June.

‘‘That’s pretty tight to be fair but we won’t know, like any injury really, until the rehab gets a bit further down the track. Her rehab team are pretty happy with her

progress and we’re pretty confident that World University Games will still be happening which is well before the World Championships obviously,’’ he said.

‘‘She’s still got two legs and can still sprint and run so she’s not going to lose too much from a training point of view, it’s just the vaulting that will be the issue obviously and some of the strength and conditioning training.

‘‘I can’t say how long it’s likely to be but it’s weeks rather than months.’’

Although she is yet to clear the 4.56m required to automatically qualify for the World Championships, McTaggart was conditionally selected by Athletics NZ.