Team GB's gold hope for the Birmingham Athletics European Championships Molly Caudery saw her season cut short due to emergency spinal surgery. A long recovery is ahead for the pole vaulter.
Great Britain's Molly Caudery suffered a big fright earlier this week, as a back flare-up suddenly got quickly worse. The World Ranking #1 female pole vaulter this season was surely expecting great things from the remainder of the season, but life can sometimes be cruel.
It's been barely a week since Molly was celebrating a well deserved victory at the Diamond League in Rome, but now she's recovering from an emergency spinal surgery, stuck at home to watch for the rest of the season. This sadly includes her home
European Athletics Championships 2026 in Birmingham.
Caudery has had some tough luck before when it comes to major championships, as her much-anticipated visit to the Paris Olympics 2024 came to a close without a single successful jump, the Brit failing on her starting height.
Last year's World Championships in Tokyo didn't go much better, but at least that time out Caudery didn't have to blame herself. A freak ankle injury in the warm-up brought her visit to the Japanese capital to an abrupt and tragic end.
- Emergency spinal surgery definitely wasn't on my 2026 bingo card. My back flared up last week, and when it got worse quickly immediate surgical intervention was needed to prevent any further damage, Caudery told her over 400 000 Instagram followers.
- And just like that, my season's over. I'm absolutely heartbroken to even be writing this, missing out on Birmingham's home games and yet another major championships. Luckily the surgery was a success and my road to recovery starts today, the Brit continued.
The women's pole vault World Ranking #1 will be sorely missed in Birmingham, but luckily at just 26 years old Caudery still has plenty of time to add to her trophy cabinet.
Indoors she's already managed two World Championships, but so far in fresh air her only medals are a silver from the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham along with a bronze from the 2024 European Championships in Rome.
Source:
Molly Caudery's Instagram 
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