Holly Bradshaw has revealed she has beaten crippling anxiety to lay her pole-vault ghosts to rest.
The 31-year-old is ready for the World Championships in Budapest after returning from a nightmare injury streak.
Bradshaw suffered a freak accident in Eugene last year when her pole broke in the final jump of her warm-up.
It left her with back, arm and hamstring injuries and she then snapped her hamstring at the Commonwealth Games a few weeks later in a rush to compete in Birmingham.
A comeback this year, shaking off an Achilles issue, has seen her make the plane for Budapest on her world ranking position but it has not been without its own fears.
She said: “I was crippled with anxiety leading into it and I just had to remind myself, this is what I love. Going through the warm-ups out in Lausanne (Diamond League in July) I was nervous. I was pretty much shaking.
“I felt sick. I hadn’t competed in over a year and actually jumped well in over two years in a competition environment.
“There’s also the anxiety of clearing the bar. Having my big fall in Oregon has created some anxiety around pole vaulting, especially in windy conditions. So there’s this something that sits in the bottom of your stomach or in your mind that says, ‘I don’t want to do this. This is scary.’
“The first couple of competitions was really trying to overcome that and overcome that fear but once that hard bar went up and I cleared the opening one I had the biggest smile on my face.
“I didn’t pick up a pole after I snapped my hammy until January. That’s five and a half months I couldn’t run down the runway.
“I would have loved to have just got back up and planted the pole, that would have done my psychology a world of good, but because I couldn’t it was tricky.
“I’m quite robust, I don’t know whether it’s like the northern streak in me. I’m renowned on the circuit for, ‘she’ll pop off the pole, fall and then she’ll just get straight back up and clear the bar’.
“I just don’t let those negative things seep into my brain. I’m just kind of crazy. I just go for it. The biggest challenge for me was trying not to let those terrifying, negative, thoughts come in.”
After finishing second at the British Championships to Molly Caudery last month, Bradshaw now feels it is important to talk about any issues so others can understand what athletes deal with.
“Athletes being more open with what they’re going through, with what they’re struggling with, it just educates people,” she said.
“How are you guys (the media) meant to know what’s going on if we don’t tell you? So we tell you what’s going on and then there’s more knowledge around that situation. In the past athletes get frustrated but actually it’s on them to be open as well.
“I remember when I was a young athlete, I wanted to keep my injuries secret. I didn’t want anyone to think I’m weak.
“Now it’s like, ‘this is what’s going on in my life and this is what I’m navigating’.
“I’m just doing the best that I can and I’m kind of on this journey to try and achieve something. I’m going to tell you all about it and not be embarrassed or shameful of it.”
Charlton donates world record singlet and bib to Museum of World Athletics
Devynne Charlton has donated her Bahamian team singlet and name bib from the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow to the Museum of World Athletics (MOWA).
The 28-year-old Charlton lowered her own world-record, which she set when she ran 7.67 in New York in New York on February 11, when she ran 7.65 to win her first global title in the Scottish capital.
She finished clear of France’s defending champion Cyrena Samba-Mayela. Charlton took silver behind the French athlete in Belgrade two years before.
Charlton handed over her Glasgow top to World Athletics President Sebastian Coe at the official press conference staged infield at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium in Nassau.
"Charlton’s near faultless final in Glasgow was one of two world records during a standout evening session," said Coe.
"On behalf of the Museum of World Athletics, I gratefully thank Charlton for her generous donation, which perfectly embodies her exceptional indoor season.
"In an Olympic year, it is worth reflecting that Charlton’s singlet joins an artefact of a sprint hurdling legend in the MOWA. Our museum’s collection holds the embroidered ‘Nederland’ badge which Fanny Blankers-Koen wore when winning the Olympic 80m hurdles gold, one of four victories achieved by ‘The Flying Dutchwoman’ at the London 1948 Olympic Games."
Charlton expressed joy and excitement at the donation.
"I am very happy to present my world indoor championship winning singlet and bib to the Museum of World Athletics. I will be excited to see them displayed online in 3D and exhibited around the world. I hope they help inspire future athletes and fans about the excitement of athletics,” she said.
"It is a great honour to have my achievements recognised in the museum alongside those of many all-time greats, whose careers I dream to emulate as I fulfil my track ambitions," she added.
Charlton’s World Athletics Indoor Championships winning kit will also sit with the shoes and clothing of two other world indoor 60m hurdles champions in the Heritage Collection of the MOWA.
Olympic champions Gail Devers of USA and Sally Pearson of Australia, respectively world indoor 60m hurdles champions in Birmingham 2003 and Istanbul 2012, donated their singlets, bib numbers and running spikes to the MOWA from their 2004 (60m gold, 60m hurdles silver) and 2014 (60m hurdles silver) world indoor campaigns.
Jamaica, Barbados engage partnership to enhance athletics in the Eastern Caribbean Island
If things go according to plans, then Jamaica and Barbados will execute a partnership with aimed at enhancing athletics training and coaching quality in Barbados.
This was revealed by Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, Charles Griffith, who pointed out that plans are currently in the pipeline for a collaborative effort between the two island nations, which will involve an exchange of coaching expertise to elevate the standard of sports training.
“There’s a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) between Jamaica and us to exchange coaches to be able to work with them in terms of how we develop,” Griffiths revealed, adding that plans for the bilateral initiative was birthed by a similar partnership between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
“I was in Washington at a conference and had a sit-down with Minister [Olivia] Grange, Minister of Sports in Jamaica. They have worked with Trinidad in terms of developing the coaches there,” he noted.
Griffith acknowledged that there are concerns about the current coaching standards in Barbados and, as such, emphasized the necessity of having highly skilled coaches to match the calibre of world-class athletes.
“I won’t push it at this meeting, but I’m concerned with the level of coaches. I think that if you’re going to have a world-class athlete, you must match that athlete with a world-class coach,” he declared.
That said, Griffiths pointed out that upcoming infrastructural developments are in place to complement ongoing sporting initiatives within the country.
“I’m looking to see how we can have that marriage where we can fuse resources together in terms of working with Jamaica to develop the athletes on island. Hopefully by next week or the week after, you will see work starting on the old netball stadium to turn that into a multi-discipline facility for netball, basketball, and volleyball,” he shared.
Muhammad, Little and Clayton headline stacked 400m hurdles field at Jamaica Athletics Invitational
The women’s 400m hurdles promises to be one of the most exciting events at the Jamaica Athletics Invitational set for May 11 at the National Stadium in Kingston.
The field will include a number of the world’s top hurdlers including global medallists including the likes of Rushell Clayton, Shamier Little and Dalilah Muhammad.
Muhammad won Olympic gold back in Rio eight years ago and took silver in Tokyo five years later. Her time in the Tokyo final, 51.58, remains a personal best and makes her the third-fastest woman ever.
At the World Championships, the 34-year-old won gold in 2019 in a then-world record 52.16. She was also among the medals in Moscow in 2013, London in 2017 and Eugene in 2022.
Clayton took bronze at the 2019 World Championships in Doha and had a similar result last year in Budapest with a personal best 52.81.
Little is a two-time World Championship silver medallist. The first came back at the 2015 edition in Beijing and the second came in Budapest last year.
Her personal best 52.39 was done back in 2021 and puts her fifth all-time.
Saturday’s field is completed by two-time Commonwealth Games champion Janieve Russell, Pan Am Games champion Gianna Woodruff, World Championship finalists Andrenette Knight and Anna Cockrell and Commonwealth Games silver medallist Shiann Salmon.
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