Paris 2024: Molly Caudery aiming for Olympic glory after gold at World Athletics Indoor Championships
BySportsbeat
Updated 03/03/2024 at 18:23 GMT
Molly Caudery claimed the women's pole vault crown at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow to propel herself into the medal conversation for Paris 2024. "It is just unbelievable," Caudery said after taking gold. "It was such a special moment to do it in front of a home crowd, family watching and everyone from all over the nation supporting too."
Molly Caudery from Great Britain, competing in pole vault, is celebrating a clearance and saluting the crowd at the 2024 World Athletics Championships in the Emirates Arena, Glasgow, on March 2, 2024
Image credit: Getty Images
Molly Caudery is training her sights on Olympic glory this summer after sealing a stunning World Athletics Indoor Championships pole vault gold in Glasgow.
Caudery continued the incredible form that saw her twice set world-leading heights with a landmark performance at the Commonwealth Arena, as the 23-year-old beat out Eliza McCartney and Olympic champion Katie Moon for her maiden world medal.
The Cornish athlete only required 4.80m for gold in Glasgow, six centimetres below her world lead and personal best, but Caudery believes the best is still to come ahead of a potentially golden summer in Paris.
"It is just unbelievable," she said. "It was such a special moment to do it in front of a home crowd, family watching and everyone from all over the nation supporting too.
"My expectations have absolutely changed. My original view for the future was always LA 2028, that was the Olympic Games that I would be focussing on to get a medal, everything up until then was just building.
"But now I think I have come to where I am so quickly, I need to adjust to that a little and then have those conversations."
Gold for Caudery sealed her status as the rising star of British athletics, with the 23-year-old now a contender for an Olympic medal.
Silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games marked a breakthrough on the senior stage, but it has only been up since then and Caudery once again hailed a home support in making a difference when it mattered.
She added: "A home crowd is always just the best. I remember at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the home crowd were so loud and there were way less people in there [tonight] but the noise was incredible and that carried me through the competition."
If there were any doubts over Caudery's ability to compete at the top of the sport, they have been vanquished by her showing in Glasgow. But she insisted any future success is going to stem from refusing to get carried away by the understandable hype.
"You have to embrace it all, I am living my dream and I am so grateful for that," she said. "I want all of that, I want people's media attention, it is all part of it. I am just so grateful for it all and I just use it to help me.
"I have got such a great support team around me and they are never going to let my head get too big or anything like that.
"I am just so grateful to be where I am, that will keep me grounded too and never take anything for granted."
- - -
The Olympic Games will return with Paris 2024, live on Eurosport and discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement