Poles apart - Holly Bradshaw on building back after spring struggles
Holly Bradshaw had a challenging spring. She was separated from her poles for weeks on end.
Lockdown was pretty difficult because, being a pole vaulter, you need a training facility.
"It was a matter of doing what I could in my garage," she explains. "I turned my garage into a gym and kept my strength up that way. I didn’t have any physio and so got a few niggles. It was all about keeping strong in the gym, keeping fit and ticking over.
"We did a lot of things online like visualisation for the pole vault. It was difficult at the start because you are thinking: ‘is there any point in doing this? Are there going to be any competitions?’ But I love training so I just kept the hope that there would be."
READ MORE: Holly Bradshaw gives her lockdown workout some beans
The training facility in Loughborough opened the first week in June and eight weeks later Bradshaw began a whistle-stop tour around Europe with eight competitions in seven weeks in six countries. Preparation was slow and steady in view of her limited training opportunities during lockdown. Because of that she also opted to stick with a shorter approach.
Her 2020 record was eight competitions, five wins and three second places.
"To be honest," she says, "I couldn’t have asked for anything more. It exceeded what I expected.
"I was able to travel around Europe, compete and have some fun, make some money and have some really good results.
"My first Diamond League win, five wins and three seconds. Going over 4.70m was a massive bonus for me. I didn’t expect that.
"On top of that, I learned a lot. There were three competitions when I was jumping into a strong headwind and I managed to learn some things about dealing with that. I also jumped a couple of times off a very short approach because of unusual circumstances. So it wasn’t just going out and having fun, there was a lot to learn and a lot of positivity to take away from the eight competitions that I did."
Bradshaw's highest vault came in her first competition in the Kuortane Games in Finland, where she cleared 4.73m, but she does not acknowledge any disappointment at not being able to build on and exceed that height later in her season. "With the 73 it was more ‘whoa, I can’t believe that happened’," she explains.
"In the pole vault you want to get a bit of momentum and the second competition was into a headwind so it was just trying to figure that out and then I had my 4.70m clearance in Szczecin. I definitely think that 4.80m could have been in the tank. But I’m absolutely not disappointed that it didn’t happen. For me, the 4.73m and the performances that I had were a bonus."
Ironically her favourite meet of the year, the Athletissma in Lausanne - which saw Angelica Bengtsson win with 4.72m and Bradshaw secure second with 4.64m - was the only one where her performance disappointed her.
"I absolutely loved Lausanne. I love street events, I loved that they decided to showcase our event. It was brilliantly organised and there was a great crowd there, and I definitely prefer to compete alongside the men," she says.
"The only negative was that they got the timing slightly wrong so that Mondo (Duplantis) was jumping in the dark, which was a shame because he could have broken the world record there.
"The best thing about that meet was that they were really trying to think outside the box. They had someone with a segway there and they were trying a different format and doing different things and I really liked that."
The winter will likely see Bradshaw based in Loughborough, as travel abroad can be precarious in the pandemic. She plans an extensive indoor season, with perhaps 8-10 meets, finishing with the European Indoors. Then just a short gap until the outdoor season, which is, of course, scheduled to be Olympic year.
Click here for more in a series of 2020 reflection interviews.
(Photo by Mark Shearman)
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