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Holly Bradshaw

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Holly Bradshaw
Bradshaw after winning silver at the 2019 European Indoor Championships
Personal information
Birth nameHolly Bethan Bleasdale
Full nameHolly Bethan Bradshaw
NationalityBritish
Born (1991-11-02) 2 November 1991 (age 33)
Preston, Lancashire, Great Britain
Height175 cm (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Weight66 kg (10 st 6 lb; 146 lb)
SpousePaul Bradshaw
Sport
CountryGreat Britain
SportAthletics
EventPole Vault
ClubBlackburn Harriers
Turned pro2010
Coached byScott Simpson
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)4.90m (2021)
4.87m i (2012)[2]
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2020 Tokyo Pole vault
World Indoor Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Istanbul Pole vault
European Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Berlin Pole vault
European Indoor Championships
Gold medal – first place 2013 Gothenburg Pole vault
Silver medal – second place 2019 Glasgow Pole vault
Bronze medal – third place 2021 Toruń Pole vault
Athletics World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2018 London Pole vault
World Junior Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2010 Moncton Pole vault
Updated on October 2024

Holly Bethan Bradshaw (née Bleasdale, born 2 November 1991) is an English track and field athlete who specialises in the pole vault. She used to be the British record holder in the event indoors and outdoors, with clearances of 4.87 metres (2012 indoors) and 4.90 metres (2021 outdoors). Bradshaw won a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She also won bronze at the 2012 World Indoor Championships, gold at the 2013 European Indoor Championships, bronze at the 2018 European Championships, and silver at the 2019 European Indoor Championships. She also won at the 2018 Athletics World Cup. Coached by Scott Simpson,[3] she has been consistently ranked among the world's best and has been ranked in the world top ten on the Track and Field News merit rankings four times (2012, 2013, 2016, 2017).[4]

Early life

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Bradshaw was involved in gymnastics from the age of six until she was 11, when she decided to try running. It was not until she was 17 that she tried pole vaulting for the first time.

Education

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Bradshaw was educated at Parklands Languages High School, a co-educational state comprehensive school in the town of Chorley in Lancashire, in North West England. She attended Runshaw College in Leyland from 2008 to 2010, where she completed her A-Levels.[5] She is now[when?] studying for a degree in Sports Exercise and Science at Manchester Met University via distance learning to allow time for her training.

Career

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Bleasdale at the 2012 London Olympics

Bradshaw's Junior career took off when she broke the British Junior pole vault record in June 2010, with a vault of 4.35m. A month later, she competed at the 2010 World Junior Championship, in which she was the favourite for the gold medal. However, she failed to vault higher than 4.15m, resulting in a bronze medal behind Angelica Bengtsson and Victoria von Eynatten, who vaulted 4.25m and 4.20m respectively.[6]

Bradshaw's first competition of the 2011 season was the 2011 European Indoor Championships, where she finished 11th in the qualifying round, with a best vault of 4.45m. Later in 2011, she represented Great Britain in the European Team Championships, where she finished in 5th place.

In June 2011, Bradshaw set a new British U23 record with a 4.53m vault at the British Under-23 Championships in Bedford.[7] However, just 5 days later, she set a new British senior record of 4.70m.[8]

In January 2012, Bradshaw improved the British indoor record by clearing 4.87m in Villeurbanne, during a Perche Élite Tour meeting. This put her third on the world all-time list, behind Yelena Isinbayeva and Jenn Suhr, and also third all-time for indoor performances. At the same competition she made her first world indoor record attempt at 5.01m, but failed.[9] Later that year, on 11 March she won a bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships held in Istanbul.[10]

Bradshaw competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She managed to reach the final, but knocked the bar at 4.55m, causing her to crash out of the running for a medal. However, she managed to finish in the top 8. In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, Bradshaw said that she was disappointed but that "by Rio, I will be at the top of my game." Bradshaw won gold at the 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Gothenburg with a height of 4.67m in a jump off with Poland's Anna Rogowska, both having previously jumped 4.72. She later stated in an interview that she could have shared gold with Rogowska, but chose to jump off to be the lone winner of the gold.[11]

In 2015, Bradshaw vaulted 4.55 m to be selected in the British Team to the World Championships. At the World Championships in Beijing, she cleared 4.70 m before failing at 4.80 m. With this height, she finished 7th in the final where the Cuban Yarisley Silva took the gold medal with a jump of 4.90 m.

2016

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Bradshaw competed in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics, jumping 4.60m to advance to the final. In the final she cleared 4.70m on her second attempt but failed her three attempts at 4.80m and finished fifth.[12] She almost cleared her last attempt at 4.80m but in the last moment the cross bar fell to the ground.[13]

After the Olympics, she competed in 2016 Diamond League in Zurich, winning first place with 4.76m.[14][15]

2017

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Bradshaw participated in many of the 2017 Diamond League meetings, and also reached the finals of the Diamond League in Brussels. She set a new personal best outdoors in Manchester in the same year at 4.81m. She participated in other notable events of pole vault around the world that year, which secured her a place in the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London in front of the home crowd, where she ended up 6th with a jump of 4.65m, and she lost the bronze medal only on count back. She has been hoping to seek glory that was taken away from her in the 2012 Olympic games in the same stadium, and afterward said she would focus on the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham. She also won the national outdoor championships in 2017.[16]

2018

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Bradshaw started her 2018 indoor season in February, competing in the Perche Élite Tour meet in Rouen, France, where she won with a clearance of 4.60 metres[17] before going on to clear 4.70m on 30 March at an outdoor competition in Australia. As one of the favourites for the pole vault title at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast,[1][18] she finished fourth with another clearance of 4.60m.[19] After clearing a season's best of 4.72 metres on 8 July in Rottach-Egern, she went on to win the biggest outdoor title of her career on 14 July 2018, when she won at the inaugural Athletics World Cup in London, improving her season's best to 4.75 metres. She further improved her season's best to 4.80 metres on 17 July in Jockgrim, before winning a bronze medal on 9 August at the European Championships in Berlin, with another clearance of 4.75 metres.[20]

2019

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Bradshaw had a good start in the early 2019 by winning the indoor nationals with a jump of 4.80m in February.[21] She was selected for the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, reaching for the final with a single jump of 4.60m in qualifying.[22] She subsequently finished in fourth place in the final.[23]

2020

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Bradshaw became British champion for a sixth consecutive year and eighth time in total when winning the pole vault event at the 2020 British Athletics Championships with a jump of 4.35 metres.[24]

2021

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At the British Championships, Bradshaw cleared a new British record height of 4.90 m, her record has since been surpassed by Molly Caudery.[25] At the delayed Tokyo Olympics, Bradshaw won the bronze medal with a jump of 4.85 m.[10]

2022

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While competing in the qualifying competition for the 2022 World Athletics Championships, Bradshaw's pole snapped and she was forced to withdraw from the competition.[26]

2024

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Bradshaw participated in the 2024 Summer Olympics, but did not proceed past the qualification round of the pole vault.[27][28]

International competitions

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Year Competition Venue Position Notes
Representing  Great Britain /  England
2010 World Junior Championships Moncton, Canada 3rd 4.15 m
2011 European Indoor Championships Paris, France 11th (q) 4.45 m
World Championships Daegu, South Korea – NM
2012 World Indoor Championships Istanbul, Turkey 3rd 4.70 m
Olympic Games London, United Kingdom 6th 4.45 m
2013 European Indoor Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 1st 4.67 m
2014 World Indoor Championships Sopot,Poland 9th 4.55 m
2015 World Championships Beijing, China 7th 4.70 m
2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 5th 4.70 m
2017 World Championships London, United Kingdom 6th 4.65 m
2018 Commonwealth Games Gold Coast, Australia 4th 4.60 m
Athletics World Cup London, United Kingdom 1st 4.75 m
European Championships Berlin, Germany 3rd 4.75 m
2019 European Indoor Championships Glasgow, United Kingdom 2nd 4.75 m
World Championships Doha, Qatar 4th 4.80 m
2021 European Indoor Championships Torun, Poland = 3rd 4.65 m
Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 3rd 4.85 m
2023 World Championships Budapest, Hungary 29th (q) 4.35 m
2024 European Championships Rome, Italy – NM
Olympic Games Paris, France 28th (q) 4.20 m
(q) Indicates overall position in qualifying round

Note: Bradshaw had three failures at her opening height of 4.25m in the qualifying round at the 2011 World Championships

Note: in 2021 Bradshaw came joint third at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland with Iryna Zhuk of Belerus

Personal life

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Bradshaw married her long-term boyfriend, Paul Bradshaw, in 2014.[29][30][31]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Holly Bradshaw". teamengland.org. Commonwealth Games England. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  2. ^ "Holly Bleasdale smashes own British pole vault record". BBC Sport. 22 January 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  3. ^ "Athlete Profile". thepowerof10.info.
  4. ^ "Women's Pole Vault rankings" (PDF). Track and Field News. Retrieved 14 April 2018.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "FE students add to Team GB Olympic medal haul". FE Week. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  6. ^ "World Junior medals for Hitchon and Bleasdale". BBC Sport. 24 July 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  7. ^ Mulkeen, Jon (27 June 2010). "Bleasdale breaks record, Williams one of four double winners in Bedford". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  8. ^ Mulkeen, Jon (2 July 2011). "Bleasdale smashes UK pole vault record". Athletics Weekly. Archived from the original on 5 July 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  9. ^ "Enorme saut de L'Anglaise Holly Bleasdale qui passe 4.87m à Villeurbanne" (in French). athlenews.com. 2012. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  10. ^ a b "Holly BRADSHAW | Profile | World Athletics". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  11. ^ "Holly Bleasdale wins gold at European Indoor Championships". BBC Sport. 2 March 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  12. ^ "Rio 2016 pole vault women – Olympic Athletics". International Olympic Committee. 25 January 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  13. ^ "Pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw: 'Getting dropped by Nike was tough, I was getting down' | The Independent | The Independent". 26 September 2019.
  14. ^ "diamond league 2016 zurich results" (PDF).
  15. ^ "Diamond League joy for Scholar and pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw". Sky Sports. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  16. ^ "British Athletics Results". uka.org.uk. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  17. ^ "Elite Perche Tour : Lavillenie s'offre une MPM, Mayer un record personnel". Eurosport. 10 February 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  18. ^ "Results". thepowerof10.info. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  19. ^ "Athletics | Result Women's Pole Vault Final – Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games". results.gc2018.com. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  20. ^ "Holly Bradshaw wins European bronze". Lancashire Telegraph. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  21. ^ "Indoor round-up: Ingebrigtsen clocks 3:36.21 world U20 indoor 1500m record, Holloway and Irwin fly to world leads in Fayetteville| News | iaaf.org". iaaf.org. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  22. ^ "Holly Bradshaw qualifies in style in Doha". AW. 27 September 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  23. ^ "Holly Bradshaw misses out on bronze as Adam Gemili puts 100m setback behind him". Metro Newspaper UK. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  24. ^ "Results list". British Athletics.
  25. ^ "Bradshaw soars over British pole vault record of 4.90m in Manchester". European Athletics. 27 June 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
  26. ^ "British pole vaulter Bradshaw out of World Championships". Reuters. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  27. ^ Poole, Harry (5 July 2024). "Kerr & Johnson-Thompson head GB Olympics athletics squad". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  28. ^ Walker-Roberts, James (5 August 2024). "Team GB's Molly Caudery, Holly Bradshaw both miss out on pole vault final at Paris Olympics". Eurosport. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  29. ^ "Holly Bleasdale accepts marriage proposal after pole vault final". BBC News. 7 August 2012.
  30. ^ Churchill, David (4 August 2017). "Pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw: I want to be champion before having a baby". The Standard. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  31. ^ Westerby, John. "Holly Bradshaw vows to raise the bar after her painful Glasgow miss". The Times. London.
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