Women's pole vault in New Zealand is anyone's game at the moment with three Aucklanders — and friends — topping the podium in recent weeks.
Olivia McTaggart is the latest Kiwi to gain qualification to the World Athletic Championships in Budapest, partly thanks to the internal competition blossoming here.
McTaggart's 4.71m effort at the recent Auckland Championships automatically qualified her for the world champs later this year but it also extended her personal best mark by six centimetres.
"I've dreamt about that jump for so many years," McTaggart told 1News.
"So to see it come together… I was just straight tears after that."
The 23-year-old has added more to her training in the gym while also extending her run-up by two steps to find that extra edge.
"The last year we've changed my run-up a little bit so I've gone back to an 18-step run-up — there aren't many women in the world on an 18-step run up, most will do 14 to 16 but with that comes more speed, bigger poles," McTaggart explained.
"We thought we would try that a year out from Olympics. I'm on bigger poles, I'm more powerful and stronger than ever and I'm really seeing the results from that.
"Sometimes it can feel like one step back for two steps forwards, and finally I'm getting those two steps forward."
But there's another factor behind her results; Olympic bronze medallist Eliza McCartney and Birmingham Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Imogen Ayris also provide daily competition.
The trio are teammates and each other's biggest competition.
"It's not only competition but in training, we really get amongst each other and really build that camaraderie, and encouragement — that's what we need," McTaggart said.
"There aren't a lot of places in the world that have three top vaulters competing with each other. We're very lucky."
Coach Jeremy McColl said he was "really proud" of all three of them.
"I've coached all three of them from day one and the goal has always been to have all three of them at the Olympics — we will get three to this World Championships."
So with McCartney winning last month's nationals and McTaggart taking out last weekend's Auckland champs, it's all on for tomorrow night's Sir Graeme Douglas meet at Auckland's Trust Arena.
Lucky there's three spots on the podium as we wait and see who'll be next to soar.
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