Eliza: Pressure, what pressure?
It takes a lot to extinguish the enthusiasm and optimism of Kiwi pole vault sensation Eliza McCartney.
So even though the 20-year-old from Devonport will compete at the world athletics championships at London’s Olympic stadium tomorrow morning (NZT) with the equivalent of the handbrake on, she remains hopeful of recapturing the lightning in the bottle that saw her vault her way into Kiwi hearts at the Rio Olympics last year.
Given what we’ve seen from this remarkable young athlete so far, you wouldn’t put it past her either.
McCartney’s 2017 campaign has been a testing one, to say the least, after she launched it in such promising fashion over the New Zealand summer with a PB, and Oceania record, clearance of 4.82 metres in Auckland in February.
She bounded off to Europe for her buildup campaign optimistic that, as she extended her runup out to a full 16 strides, she would soon be challenging the 5m ceiling, and perhaps even improving on the bronze medal she picked up at the Rio Games.
But this is sport, and the best laid plans of jumpers and runners can come unstuck with just the twinge of a crucial muscle.
So it proved for McCartney as an Achilles tendon mishap put a major spanner in the works of her buildup, and even had her questioning just weeks out from London whether she would be able to compete.
That left the Kiwi effectively unable to train fully, having to withdraw from a couple of key buildup event.
But with McCartney there’s always a bright side, and hers is a mindset that feels fairly clear of pressure and expectation heading into London. It’s a nothing-to-lose mentality that may just offer a sliver of hope.
‘‘I don’t feel a whole lot of pressure, because it’s my first world champs and because of everything that’s happened with my Achilles ... It’s just about doing the best I can and if it doesn’t go to plan, it’s not the end of the world,’’ McCartney said from London.
‘‘It’s not stressful, it’s not do-ordie ... it’s a very special thing to compete here, and of course you want to compete to the best of your ability. But I can still have that mindset that it’s quite humbling to be here, and why not just go out and do everything you can?
‘‘It’s only my first year of the campaign for 2020, I’m still only 20, and there are a lot of things we can keep working on. It’s not that big a deal.’’
Encouragingly, McCartney manages a breezy laugh.
‘‘In competition that adrenalin kicks in and usually that helps. We’re in a pretty good space. It’s been a hard buildup but that doesn’t mean something exciting couldn’t happen. We’re being openminded.’’
McCartney feels like she’s ‘‘given everything I can each day’’ and if that proves to be not enough, then she can live with knowing ‘‘there’s nothing I could have done more’’.
The injury itself has been rested and rehabbed to the point where she was able to satisfy herself there should be ‘‘no surprises’’ in London.
But that 16-stride runup has shrunk to just 12, which changes the formula significantly.
‘‘That’s two steps shorter than Rio last year, but I’m on the same poles. We just ran out of time because I’ve only done like two vault sessions in the last quite a while. It’s the best option considering everything, and the poles I’ll be using are good friends of mine.’’
The field looks wide open with McCartney’s 4.82m in February bettered by only three jumpers this year, and even then by just 3cm. Qualifying takes place tomorrow morning (6.45am NZT), with Olympic gold medallist Katerina Stefanidi, runnerup Sandi Morris and well-performed American Jenn Suhr considered the big threats.
Also in action tomorrow will be sprinter Joseph Millar in the heats of the 100m (preliminaries) and Africa-based Zane Robertson in the 10,000m final where he could push, potentially, for a top-eight finish.
Olympic shot put bronze medallist Tom Walsh will take part in qualifying tomorrow night alongside compatriot Jacko Gill, while Hamilton hammer thrower Julia Ratcliffe will also attempt to win through to the final in her event soon after.