Leaps & bounds
Eliza raises the bar, again
Eliza McCartney has soared higher than all but three people in the history of the women’s pole vault.
The 21-year-old New Zealander hit 4.94m in her latest event in Europe yesterday, setting another national record while improving her personal best by two centimetres.
Since her first pole vault event in February 2011, at the Auckland City Challenge, where she jumped 3.3m, McCartney has moved up the all-time rankings.
By January 2013, she had surpassed the four-metre mark. In November 2015, she first edged over 4.5m, and just four months later she went past 4.8m for the first time, moving her into the top 20 of all-time.
Based on current form, McCartney could join the fivemetre club in the next 12 months, allowing her to have a crack at Russian Yelena Isinbayeva’s world record of 5.06m.
Isinbayeva hit 5.06m in Zurich in 2009, with the next best efforts coming from Americans Jennifer Suhr (5.03m) and Sandi Morris (5m), both in 2016.
Should McCartney make the pole vault world record her own, she’d be the first New Zealand athlete to do so in track and field since 1982.
Anne Audain broke the 5000m world record on March 17, 1982 in Auckland, when she finished in 15min 13.22secs.
Prior to Audain, Dick Quax held a world record in the men’s 5000m, with a time of 13:12.9 in 1977 in Stockholm. Also in the 1970s, John Walker set world records in the mile and the 2000m.
In the 1960s, Peter Snell held world records in the mile, 1000m, 880 yards and the 800m. He also joined Murray Halberg, Gary Philpott and Barry Magee in setting the 4x 1mile relay record. Halberg also set world records in the 2 and 3 miles.
In the 1950s, Marise Chamberlain had the world record in the 440 yards, lowering the mark three times, while Yvette Williams set a long jump record at 6.28m.
The original, official record breaker was Jack Lovelock, who broke the 1 mile record in Princeton, USA, on July 15, 1933. Three years later, Lovelock broke another record, this time the 1500m in 3:47.8, in Berlin.