Olympic heartbreak 'fuels' Caudery for titles & records

It was, as Molly Caudery says, simply "a bad day to have a bad day".

But the 25-year-old's acceptance of her Olympic disappointment seven months ago, her measured response accompanied by a smile on her face, presents an ominous warning to her rivals.

Caudery wasted little time in recasting her failure to qualify for the Paris 2024 final as fuel in her pursuit of future success, with the next major target the defence of her world indoor title in Nanjing, China, this weekend.

In an outstanding breakout season, Britain's pole vault star celebrated that world indoor gold in Glasgow and broke Holly Bradshaw's British record with a vault over 4.92m to position herself among the favourites in Paris last summer.

Instead, Caudery endured a brutal - and in her own words "heartbreaking" - setback at the Stade de France where, despite arriving as the world-leader in the event, she failed to clear her opening height of 4.55m.

"I still cant really put it down to anything specific," she tells BBC Sport.

"More than anything it has fuelled me. It has given me this extra drive that I did not know I had.

"You've got to make the best of a bad situation but it is not something I think about too much in a negative way. It's in the past, I have moved on and I'm in a much better place."

It was at the World Indoor Championships 12 months ago where everything changed for Caudery.

Glory in Glasgow came at only her second global championship, having announced herself on the world stage by finishing fifth in Budapest the previous summer.

Those performances had proven her penchant for delivering on the biggest stages before Paris - and it is those heights Caudery wants to reach again as she targets two global titles in 2025.

Reflecting on Glasgow, she says: "That moment changed my life. It opened up so many opportunities, made me love the sport even more and it was just so much fun.

"Last year was my first stepping on to the elite stage and my name becoming known a bit more. To be able to go and do it [in Glasgow] meant so much and gave me so much confidence.

"I hated that people thought in Paris, 'maybe she can't perform under pressure'. I don't think that was the case. I love competing in front of a big crowd and I would usually count myself as a championship performer.

"That was almost an anomaly and that's OK, I just don't want it to happen again."

Caudery chose to miss the European indoors to focus fully on Nanjing where, as a result of the eight-hour time difference, the women's pole vault final will begin at 02:10 GMT on Saturday, live on the BBC.

That decision was taken to manage a calf injury - a minor stress for an athlete whose extensive list of previous injuries includes almost losing a finger in a freak gym accident in 2021.

In a promising start to the year, the Cornwall-born athlete cleared 4.85m in Madrid in February to win the overall World Indoor Tour Gold title.

That is a height five centimetres higher than any of her 12 rivals for world gold have managed this season, and in a line-up missing the entire Olympic podium.

"Nothing is a given but if I go out there and jump my best I can hopefully retain my title, which is what I'm going out there to do," adds Caudery.

"It's going to be such a fun year. Last year I was just emerging on the scene and it was all very new."

Nanjing marks her first major test in a year leading to the World Championships in Tokyo in September.

But, as Armand Duplantis continues to offer record-breaking entertainment in the men's event, Caudery believes her pursuit of major titles can also bring her closer to Russian Yelena Isinbaeva's mark of 5.06m which has stood for almost 16 years.

First, though, the challenge will be to join the elite five-metre club - a height only four women in history have managed to clear.

But is an achievement Caudery, at peace with her Paris pain and with new targets in sight, feels is now within reach.

"We've never focused too much on heights, but I'm really close to that five-metre mark now and that's a really big thing," says Caudery, who is seventh on the all-time list.

"I probably could have given it a good go [during this indoor season], and that's been taken away from me. I'm just excited to get back to being healthy, competing a lot and having more attempts at five metres.

"The bar after that would probably be the world record. Just having these conversations is so exciting."