Olympic pole vault bronze-medallist Eliza McCartney doesn’t often put a foot wrong.
But the Kiwi crashed out of her latest big final - the Australian Athletics Championships on the Gold Coast - and a few extra steps are to blame.
McCartney failed to clear the bar on three straight attempts at 4.35m, posting no-height in Carrara Stadium.
It’s the first time she’s tried an extended run-up - 14 steps instead of 10 - since she injured her Achilles last year.
And so far, the transition's been tough.
"Usually it takes me a few weeks to really get into a run-up, and I only started this about a week ago," McCartney told Newshub. "As you can probably tell, I wasn’t quite ready yet."
McCartney has six weeks to get it right before she’ll be back at Carrara Stadium, when April’s Commonwealth Games begin.
"That’s one of my biggest work-ons, is getting the run-up solid and staying in control. And once that’s done, the heights will take care of themselves."
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Newshub.
