Holly’s heartbreak but joy for Breen as she finally beats her 100m rival
POLE vaulter Holly Bradshaw’s Commonwealth campaign ended before it began as she reaggravated the hamstring injury she suffered two weeks ago, writes Paul Eddison of Sportsbeat in Birmingham.
The 30-year-old Olympic bronze medallist went viral at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, a fortnight ago when her pole snapped, causing a tear in her tendon.
Still, knowing it was her last opportunity to win a Commonwealth medal, the Loughborough University student did everything she could to make Birmingham 2022 and was raring to go.
But the hamstring did not play ball in the warm-up, leaving Bradshaw with no regrets but plenty of pain.
She said: “I’m pretty devastated but it’s not a total shock. Coming into this, it was a big ask.
“I wanted to come here and try and battle for the medals which has not happened but I can rest easy knowing that I gave it everything.
“This is the worst possible scenario but I don’t regret it at all.
“I’m pretty sure this experience will do some damage mentally but hopefully not too much and I’ll come back stronger next year.”
Where Bradshaw’s evening was cut short, former Loughborough College student Sophie Hahn’s featured a different kind of disappointment.
The double Paralympic champion has been untouchable in the T37/38 100m in major championships since 2014.
But she met her match in Olivia Breen, left, with her Loughboroughbased rival victorious over Hahn for the first time in nine years.
And 25-year-old Hahn admitted it was tough to take, particularly in front of the packed crowd at Alexander Stadium.
She said: “I’m pretty gutted. I’ve been training really well but it was
not meant to be today. It just wasn’t there. I’m gutted, I’m not going to lie.
“The crowd here got me. I was really hoping to retain my title in front of all these people.
“I would like to thank all the people who got behind me, I really appreciate it but I’m sorry I couldn’t deliver.”
Wales sprinter Breen, 26, won the title with a personal best time of 12.83 seconds. She said: “I am absolutely over the moon. Ten years’ hard work and I’ve never run this fast. I am really happy.
“I just can’t believe it and I want to thank my team for believing in me.
“Obviously this year I’ve had a really good season and Sophie has been a really good rival for years and I knew that it would come, and it did come!”
Breen’s victory over Hahn marks a remarkable reversal in the pair’s form and fortunes from last summer’s Tokyo Games.
In Japan, Hahn defended her T38 title in imperious style, with Breen a distant seventh.
In the absence of Bradshaw, Lougborough University student Molly Caudery, left, capped a brilliant season by clinching silver in the women’s pole vault after clearing 4.45m.
Caudery, 22, said it felt like a “dream” to win silver – eight months after cutting off her finger in a freak accident.
She had multiple operations to put her finger “back together” after the “freak accident” while weight training in December.
Caudrey had finished out of the medals when she came fifth in the Gold Coast Games in 2018.