Eliza McCartney has soared back to the top of the podium on another eventful day of the national track and field championships in Wellington which also featured a clash of Kiwi titans in the men's shot put final.
McCartney, who is finally making a comeback from her well-documented string of achilles and hamstring injuries that have plagued her since that historic bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, cleared 4.61m to beat last year's champion, Olivia McTaggart, on countback this afternoon.
“It's been many, many years since I've competed at nationals and to be out here, I'm just really grateful that I get to do it again and to have a really competitive pole vault [competition] – that was amazing," the 26-year-old said after the final.
“We were jumping with each other, we were able to egg each other on and have a really cool environment and I don't know if I've had that in New Zealand before, so it was a really cool champs to come back for.”
McCartney and McTaggart were locked in a battle alongside Birmingham 2022 bronze medalist Imogen Ayris today with the trio all clearing 4.46m before the bar was raised by 15cm.
Ayris wasn't able to clear the new height - her personal best is 4.50 - leaving her in third and the other two facing off for the title.
McCartney managed to clear the bar on her second attempt while McTaggart needed her third and final vault at the height to make the clearance. For comparison, Australia's Nina Kennedy won gold at last year's Commonwealth Games with a 4.60m effort.
That shifted the bar to 4.71m - the automatic qualifying height for this year's world championships - but neither were able to clear it in their three attempts, leaving McCartney as the winner.
The result is a positive for McCartney in more ways than way, beating her season's best of 4.36m from the Potts Classic in January.
McCartney said she didn't have much left in the tank after today.
“4.61m was about my limit – my legs lost it and I hit a brick wall and I had no energy left.
“But that happens sometimes, especially because I'm not really competition fit at the moment, so it's probably not too surprising. I'm also not used to having a lot of adrenaline, because I just haven't been competing enough lately.
“Unfortunately I didn't even get a swing at 4.71m, which is a shame because I had it. I knew I had it today – it was just one jump too late.
“It's okay. It's early for me in the season and for the year, so I'm very pleased to have gone 4.61m, because it's something I haven't done in quite a long time, so I can't complain."
Gill takes down Walsh
In the men's shot put final, Jacko Gill ended Tom Walsh's reign at the top after 13 years.
In their first showdown this summer, Gill came out on top with a 21.8m throw while Walsh could only conjure a 21.25m effort in response.
It ends a 13-year reign for Walsh as the national men's shot put champion with Gill throwing four attempts, including his winning effort of 21.8m, past the 21.25m mark.
Another top Kiwi athlete was also in action today with Hamish Kerr winning the men's high jump final with a 2.20m effort.
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