CORNWALL’S Molly Caudery is the new world indoor pole vault champion after a stunning success in Glasgow last night.

The 23-year-old from Redruth claimed gold in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in front of a packed crowd.

After plenty of drama involving New Zealand’s Eliza McCartney, her training partner with Scott Simpson at Thames Valley Harriers, Caudery jumped 4.85m to win gold and mark the biggest moment of her career to date.

Caudery was out on the track for the entire length of the second evening of these Championships, with the women’s pole vault final delayed after France’s Margot Chevrier suffered a nasty looking injury.

It was time well spent for in-form Caudery, who went clear first time at 4.55m and 4.65m after passing at 4.40m. She had her first missed clearance at 4.75m but would clear second time up, a series she would repeat at 4.80m.

The drama ratcheted up at 4.85m with Caudery now left battling head-to-head with just Olympic bronze medallist from 2016 Eliza McCartney for the gold medal. After one failure at 4.85m, McCartney passed and went straight onto 4.90m.

Caudery stuck at 4.85m ‒ a height one centimetre short of her world lead this year ‒ but try as she might couldn’t pass it. It wasn’t initially clear whether McCartney would continue at 4.90m but, with gold on the line, she did.

The tension was palpable in Glasgow with McCartney needing to clear to secure gold. The Kiwi couldn’t, which handed Caudery the biggest achievement of her career, having finished fifth in the outdoor final in Budapest last summer.

Caudery said: “I dreamed of this. I wasn’t sure if it would come true or not. It was such a tough competition. There were six girls over 4.80m coming into it, so I knew it was going to be a fight.

“It was a really emotional competition actually, the one thing I do want to say is that I hope a lot of the girls get better because there were some injuries and nasty falls. That affected me during the competition, I got really emotional. I just want to send my love to all of them first.

“I’m not used to having a target on my back and to have executed the way I did, I am just proud of myself for that. As soon as I got a medal, that was kind of all I came to do but that made me believe in myself. The last two jumps Eliza took, I was so on edge. We get on well, but I can’t help but be a bit happy.”