Holly Bradshaw fell to earth with an almighty bump as she went from Olympic medal to snapping her pole.
A year after the highest high of winning bronze in Tokyo, the Preston-born star suffered every pole vaulter’s nightmare on the first day of the World Athletics Championships. Never before in her 14-year career had she broken a pole but it happened at Hayward Field as she planted it in the box and threw herself into the jump.
The whiplash effect turned the 30-year old on her head and she dropped heavily onto her neck. A shaken Bradshaw said: “It’s the first time it’s ever happened in my career and I hope it never happens again. I am absolutely gutted, heartbroken.
“It’s a bit of a blur to me but I was rotating and landed high on the back of my neck on the pit and then slid down. It was massive shock and I’ve done a bit of a number on my back.
“Initially I had mad pain through my wrist from the vibrations of it. There’s something going on with my glute and hamstring. There was no way I could have jumped. It’s just one of those things that absolutely sucks.”
If Bradshaw was shaken up then Reece Prescod was left stunned after being knocked out in the heats of the men’s 100 metres.
In May the Londoner ran a personal-best 9.93sec into a headwind at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava, to get within touching distance of Linford Christie’s 29-year-old British record of 9.87.
Yet on one of the fastest tracks in the business he could not break 10 seconds, clocking 10.15, and missed out on a semi-final place by 0.02secs.
“I was on the outside and couldn’t really gauge it,” he said.
Zharnel Hughes did advance, a season’s best 9.97secs the fifth fastest of a competition dominated by the Americans, for whom Fred Kerley led the way in a lightning quick 9.79.
Hughes was slow out of the blocks but eased through the gears impressively to make up lost ground.
“I just have to trust myself, trust my speed,” he said, still buzzing from the sight and ear-popping roar of a couple of F18 jets flying over the stadium to open the championships.
Laura Muir safely qualified for Sunday morning’s 1500m semi-finals, finishing second in her heat with a time of 4:07.53.
