North Shore teen Eliza McCartney has joined a select group of New Zealand athletes to win a medal at a world championship event after claiming bronze in the pole vault at the world junior track and field championships yesterday.
McCartney set a senior national record of 4.45m with her third-placed leap in Eugene, Oregon -- adding 5cm to the previous New Zealand record she shared with Melina Hamilton.
The 17-year-old from Takapuna was forced to work hard for her bronze medal, battling with American Desiree Freier, Russia's Alena Lutkovskaya and Nina Kennedy of Australia. The lead seesawed throughout the competition.
In the end it needed a championship record of 4.50m for Lutkovskaya to secure the victory. Freier cleared 4.45m, the same as the New Zealander but claimed the silver medal on a countback as she had cleared 4.40m on her first attempt while McCartney took two attempts.
Her coach Jeremy McColl said he was delighted his young charge was able to produce a personal best under such immense pressure.
"It was a really strong field this year, in any other year she would have got first or second with that height," he said.
McCartney's bronze-medal winning vault also ranks her in the top three in the Commonwealth, but she failed to qualify for the Glasgow event after a bout of glandular fever at the beginning of the year saw her miss the qualification period. "She's had a really tough season. She was sick for most of January and February and it really knocked her around, so it was great to see her come out and produce what we all knew she was capable of today," said McColl.
After a tough season McCartney will return to New Zealand for a break before she begins preparation for the 2014/15 season, in which she hopes to qualify for next year's senior world championships.
McCartney's North Harbour Bays clubmate Pascal Kethers missed out on making the final in the men's pole vault, after landing heavily on his back outside the pit in the warm-up.
The shaken Kethers valiantly cleared 4.70m and 4.85m but could not clear the third height of 5m. He finished with an overall placing of 26th.
Rosa Flanagan had a comfortable fourth placing in her 3000m steeplechase heat in 10:09.43 to progress to tomorrow's final.
New Zealand Athletics has produced two junior world champions -- shotput stars Valerie Adams (2002) and Jacko Gill (2010). The only other Kiwis to win medals are Gavin Lovegrove (javelin, 1986), Joanne Henry (heptathlon, 1990), Shaun Farrell (400m, 1994) and Jordan Vandermade (decathlon, 2006), who all claimed bronze.
- by Dana Johannsen of the NZ Herald
