Last chance for pole vault hopefuls
TWO down, one to go. Kiwi Olympic pole vault hopefuls Eliza McCartney and Olivia McTaggart have one more swing of the bat left as they chase an unlikely spot at the Tokyo Games.
Neither they, nor fellow Auckland squadmate Imogen Ayris, were able to tick off the required 4.70 metres Games standard at the second of three straight winter series events at Auckland’s AUT Millennium facility yesterday afternoon.
That leaves them one more competition, effectively the Last Chance Saloon, next Saturday – their last ahead of the June 22 cutoff for Olympic qualifying.
Frankly, that 4.70 looks a long way off for them all, with McCartney unable to even get off the ground yesterday as she continues to deal with chronic Achilles and ankle issues, and McTaggart pulling off a promising 4.40m clearance at the first attempt, but unable to go close on all three attempts at what would have been a personal best (PB) 4.60.
McTaggart, who has cleared 4.55m, won the competition with that 4.40 and Ayris was second with 4.25m which she cleared at the second attempt. McCartney pulled out without even getting off the ground.
‘‘To get 4.40 on the first attempt felt really good. I really wanted that,’’ the 21-year-old McTaggart told the Sunday StarTimes after the competition. ‘‘I felt confident and thought 4.60 was there. Just on those last two attempts I didn’t quite get the takeoff right and wasn’t able to follow through with the jump.
‘‘It’s bittersweet. You’ve got to take the wins, but it’s pretty tough.’’
McCartney, the 24-year-old Rio Olympic bronze medallist who hasn’t jumped unencumbered since she cleared her PB of 4.94 in 2018, said she desperately wanted to give the 4.70 qualifying standard another crack, but was unable to get anything going at her entry height.
‘‘I didn’t think it would get much worse than last weekend, but it did unfortunately. Part of the thinking is I want to give it one more shot next weekend, so there was not much point doing any more harm this week.’’
McCartney said her Achilles and ankle were both ‘‘fiery’’ yesterday and prevented her even getting off the ground.
But she vowed to give the final roll of the dice her best crack.
‘‘I’ve come this far, and the fact I’ve spent the whole year working really hard to keep motivated, to keep going, I’d be pretty disappointed in myself if I gave up when there’s only one week left. I will be going as hard as I can.’’
McTaggart, too, realises she has to pull one out of the box. She said it was exciting to be even attempting a PB at a mid-winter event, but hoped the competition could bring the best out in her next weekend.