Holly Bradshaw: “I’d expect myself to deliver a 4.90m bar”

British women’s pole vault record-holder on successfully clearing 4.82m outdoors, her meticulous schedule and focus ahead of the Müller British Championships

After vaulting a British outdoor record of 4.82m in Huelva, Spain earlier this month, it’s safe to say Holly Bradshaw goes into the Müller British Championships as the favourite.

Only two of her competitors in Manchester – Molly Caudery and Jade Ive – have jumped over 4.30m but that doesn’t mean the British record-holder is taking anything for granted.

“For the championships this weekend I’m more nervous than for any of my other competitions,” she tells AW. “There is more to lose. People expect me to win. That adds pressure.”

On her personal best, she adds: “I was obviously really happy with 4.82m. Where I’m at in training, I’d expect me to deliver a 4.90m bar. I was stoked but I wasn’t crazily losing my head as I need to stay level and a high performance is within me.”

The British record-holder’s schedule is pretty meticulous. After Manchester, she is competing in Gateshead, Stockholm and Monaco and is leaving nothing to chance in regards to Covid-19 before Tokyo.

“We’re trying to minimise as much risk as possible,” she says. “We’ll basically drive to Paris and then we’ll fly from there to Stockholm, then fly to Monaco, then to Paris and we’ll drive back [to the UK]. If I’m on a flight back to the UK and somebody tests positive, I’ll have to self isolate for 10 days which means I can’t leave my house and I can’t train. It means I couldn’t then fly to the Olympics.

“I’m not on edge but I’m not going out for food, I’m asking my mum and dad to take lateral flow tests and I’m not seeing anybody as I don’t want to contract Covid. If I can’t leave my house then it would obliterate my chances of a medal at the Olympics.

“I’m quite boring anyway! The only thing I really miss is the cinema. I’m not like a hermit or anything but I train, I come home and I’ve got a coffee in my house. I don’t need much more else to stimulate me. I’ve been way more organised this year in terms of eating snacks so there aren’t any distractions.”

It's a British outdoor record for @HollyBradshawPV in the women's pole vault as she vaults 4.82m PB in Huelva🔥

📹 @TrackFan666 pic.twitter.com/tKaaH1xR3B

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) June 3, 2021

Bradshaw’s season has been a mixed bag. Alongside that 4.82m clearance, her other two outdoor competitions have been in the Diamond League where she went over 4.74m and 4.66m in Doha and Florence respectively.

Her biggest competition of the year to date was the European Indoor Championships back in March in Toruń, where she won bronze with a height of 4.65m, the lowest out of all her seven competitions in 2021. Her personal best outdoors would have seen the Briton become indoor European champion but Bradshaw believes it’s a learning curve and wants to use that experience her strength.

“I came out of that competition and I felt sick to my stomach and I didn’t go into it with a complacent attitude. These girls aren’t mugs and I had to be on my game to take the win,” she adds.

“What I took out of it was that I need more competitions before going into a championships. That’s not an excuse but I had eight meets planned and two of them got cancelled. I couldn’t go to Madrid and I think I was left with just three meets going into the championships. 

“It wasn’t a mental block. I’m frustrated but I’m not going to stand here crying and I performed to the best I could, delivered a performance and it just wasn’t good enough. I know what went right and what went wrong and I now have the data and can use it to my strength for the future.”

Only two women – Yelena Isinbayeva and Sandi Morris – have ever jumped 5.0m and, post Manchester, Bradshaw will face Morris, Katerina Stefanidi, Katie Nageotte and Anzhelika Sidorova across the Diamond League season.

The Briton sees 5.0m as the ultimate goal.

“When I broke onto the scene back in 2011, 2012 and 2013 there was no doubt that at some point in my career I would be able to jump 5.0m,” she tells AW.

“I started to doubt myself due to injury and I was honestly thinking that there was a struggle but I want to break the 4.90m barrier and then take it a step at the time. I don’t feel like I should be in a place to think about it now but I have the consistency now to win an Olympic medal.”

This year Armand (Mondo) Duplantis has jumped 6.10m outdoors, with the international status of pole vault elevated, quite literally. Bradshaw is delighted to see that more pole vaulters are getting recognition but is concerned about what the UK has to offer.

“I feel like Mondo is unbeatable and I know he was beaten in Gateshead but, the way he can clear 6.0m and 6.10m, he is raising the profile of the sport and I don’t understand why Sweden have a 6.20m guy and three women of a great standard and the UK doesn’t have that,” Bradshaw adds.

“It’s great to see kids on these junior teams and we’ve got great coaches. I just don’t understand why we don’t have the depth or the standard of other countries. Molly [Caudery] is a great talent, she’s lost her way over the past couple of years but is on her way back, Sophie [Ashurst] is also going to the U20 Europeans [July 15 – July 18] but I just feel like I don’t know why there’s not more.”

Whatever happens in both Manchester and then Tokyo, what’s clear is that the British record-holder’s mind is on the future of the sport itself.

“I’m going to retire over the next two to four years and I don’t want pole vault just to crumble. I want girls to jump up and start vaulting 4.60m and 4.70m,” she says.

“Think of the legacy in the javelin. We had Steve Backley and Goldie Sayers and we don’t have javelin throwers now getting anywhere near the Olympic standard. That’s why legacy isn’t a thing in the UK. I don’t know what it’s down to but it may be the facilities and possibly the lack of coverage in the pole vault. It’s so much fun to do with taster sessions and kids have told me its amazing.”