USA's Nageotte cruises to women’s pole vault gold as Sidorova goes Silver and Bradshaw bronze
Katie Nageotte of Team USA was the top performer in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic women’s pole vault finals while Anzhelika Sidorova of ROC scooped the silver and Britain's Holly Bradshaw took bronze.
Athletics
After a first round that saw so many vaulters struggle to get depth in the pit and clear the initial 4.50 height, Team USA's Katie Nageotte kept her cool after missing on her first two efforts to take home the Tokyo 2020 (in 2021) pole vault gold on 5 August at the Olympic Stadium.
"It hasn't even begun to sink in yet," Nageotte said after beating the world champion Anzhelika Sidorova (ROC). "This is the biggest dream I have ever had for myself. And here I am living the dream. "I will tell you when it finally sinks in. This is about as good as I could feel. We've all been through so much with COVID and everything, I'm really grateful."
It took three attempts for Nageotte to clear the initial 4.50 height that saw nine of her competitors go out of the competition, before moving on to 4.80 and finally taking home the laurels when she was able to clear the bar when it was raised to 4.90.
"It was the worst warm-up I have had in a long time and I did an ugly first few jumps," the American gold-winner went on. "It took me a few heights to get in to it, but I was just fighting and I finally found a smooth jump. It came together."
No match for Nageotte
None of the other three athletes who reached past the opening round were able to clear the 4.95 height that Nageotte eventually went over -- and so the gold went to United States' representative who even had a run left to challenge for the world record (though unsuccessfully).
Defending world champion Sidorova of the ROC Team followed the American to the podium with the silver and Holly Bradshaw of Team Great Britain scooped the bronze.
"When I didn't get the first attempt at 4.90, this shook me up, and I was not able to come back in the competition," said sliver-medallist Sidorova after the event. "I was very bitter that I could not do the jump and there was just a little bit missing."
Team GB's Bradshaw, on the other hand, was thrilled with her bronze "I'll always have that Olympic medal now. I've dreamt of how I would feel as an Olympic medallist and it's not sunk in. It's a wave of emotions."