Career-best leap for McTaggart
New Zealand pole vaulter Olivia McTaggart hit her stride in London yesterday.
She soaked up the noise from a 60,000-strong crowd at London Stadium to produce the performance of her career.
McTaggart leaped to a lifetime best, clearing 4.73m to claim the top spot at the United Kingdom's only stop on the Diamond League circuit.
McTaggart won the event ahead of one of the strongest pole vault fields assembled this season, including hometown hero Molly Caudery, the 2024 world indoor champion, and Katie Moon (United States), the 2020 Olympic champion and 2022 and 2023 world champion.
The effort eclipsed her previous best of 4.71m, which she jumped just five days earlier at the Spitzen Leichtathletik meet in Switzerland.
The height is also the world championships entry standard, all but securing her spot in Tokyo for the world championships next month, pending official selection from Athletics New Zealand.
While four competitors cleared 4.73m, McTaggart was the only one do to so on her second attempt.
Moon, Angelica Moser (Switzerland) and Emily Grove (US) all required three attempts at the height.
Alongside McTaggart, the four remaining athletes all fell short of clearing the next height in the progression of 4.84m, leaving the Diamond League crown to the New Zealander.
The Auckland-based vaulter has been training and living in Loughborough, UK, for the past several months, competing on the European circuit.
The Diamond League circuit enjoys a brief hiatus over the next few weeks before roaring back into life again on August 16 in Silesia.
— APL
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