Molly Caudery cleared a world pole vault lead of 4.92m to break the British record and move to seventh on the world all-time list at the Toulouse Capitole Perche on Saturday (22).
The world indoor champion’s previous best was 4.86m, achieved in Rouen in February, but she added six centimetres to that mark on her return to France at the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meeting in Toulouse, also improving Holly Bradshaw’s national record by two centimetres.
With her performance, achieved in wet conditions, Caudery managed the highest women’s pole vault clearance since 2021.
She entered the competition at 4.36m and cleared that, 4.51m and 4.61m on her first attempts. She passed at 4.67m and needed two tries to make it over 4.73m, but then she managed 4.80m on her first attempt and her record-breaking height on her second go. She then had a single attempt at 5.00m.
It was the 24-year-old’s first competition since she claimed bronze at the European Championships in Rome on 10 June.
Caudery’s 4.86m had been the previous world lead, with USA’s Olympic champion Katie Moon second on this year’s top list with her 4.85m clearance achieved in Chula Vista earlier this month.
Marie-Julie Bonnin of France finished second in Toulouse with 4.51m, while her compatriot Thibaut Collet won the men’s event with 5.82m.
Tolo throws Asian record
Mohamed Daouda Tolo threw 21.80m to set an Asian shot put record, while Camryn Rogers set a meeting record of 77.76m in the hammer at the Meeting Madrid, a Continental Tour Silver event, on Friday (21).
Saudi Arabia’s Tolo, the Asian Games silver medallist, improved his previous best by more than a metre to win the competition ahead of Scott Lincoln with 21.06m.
Canada’s world champion Rogers equalled the season’s best she set when winning at the Prefontaine Classic with her 77.76m throw. This time she won ahead of Anna Purchase with 71.79m.
World 400m record-holder Wayde van Niekerk dropped down in distance and won the 200m in 20.29 (-0.5m/s) ahead of his South African compatriot Akani Simbine in 20.38.
Eliott Crestan won the men’s 800m in 1:44.28 and Catriona Bisset the women’s in 1:59.17 ahead of Worknesh Mesele with 1:59.33 as the top eight all dipped under two minutes.