Pole vaulter McCartney breaks world record

Pole vaulter Eliza McCartney. Photograph by Michael Craig.

New Zealand pole vault star Eliza McCartney broke the world junior record at Mt Smart in Auckland on Saturday, on her last possible opportunity.

The North Harbour Bays athlete from Takapuna cleared 4.64m on the third attempt at the Auckland Summer Series 7 meeting to add one centimetre to the previous record held by Swede Angelica Bengtsson.

McCartney will turn 20 in December next year, so will not be eligible to set a World under-20 record after December 31.

However, it was not without drama, as she needed all three attempts at both 4.40m and the record setting height.

The gusty conditions made it difficult, but the 2014 world junior championships bronze medallist and 2015 world university games silver medallist managed the wind to her advantage to break the four-year-old record.

Five weeks earlier McCartney vaulted 4.50m to set a fresh New Zealand national and resident record on the same track but her latest performance wipes those records and adds the all-comers record, previous held by Australian Emma George at 4.57m.

George set the record at North Shore's AUT Millennium Stadium in 1998.

McCartney's recent 4.50m performance equalled the Rio 2016 Olympics B-standard qualification, but the 4.64m clearance beats the 4.55m A-standard, assuring McCartney a nomination for her first Olympics.

New Zealand's only other Olympic pole vaulter is Melina Hamilton, who competed in 2004 at the Athens Games.

McCartney moved to 19th on the senior world rankings for 2015.

McCartney's coach Jeremy McColl, the Athletics New Zealand high performance pole vault coach, said McCartney had been training well and before the competition was confident of a big jump if the conditions were good.