Pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw targets fourth Olympics

Holly Bradshaw secured Team GB's first pole vault Olympic medal

Pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw said she was "feeling really good and strong" ahead of her fourth Olympics.

The Chorley athlete, who took bronze in Tokyo, said she was looking forward to going to Paris 2024 "more chilled" than she was ahead of the last three tournaments.

She said she had had a difficult year in 2023, which saw her lose her father and part with her coach last year.

Team GB will be announcing the full athletics team in early July.

Holly Bradshaw says her dad, who died last year, will be with her "every step of the way"

The 32-year-old secured Team GB's first ever pole vault Olympic medal at the Covid-hit Tokyo 2020, when she cleared 4.85m.

On Tuesday she was named in the British team for next month's European Championships in Rome on 7-12 June.

"Having had the weight of the world on my shoulders and so much pressure for the last three Olympics it's nice to know I'm going into one where it's a bit more chilled," she said.

"There's not everything riding on it and I'm going there to see what I can do and hopefully that brings out the best in me."

She said the training has been going "really well".

'Where I started'

She said the grief of losing her father in November had been "overwhelming".

"When he passed away it just put a lot of things into perspective and I really struggled to see how I could ever run down the runway with a pole again.

"And then come the New Year something like just switched in my brain as the training started to go really well.

"I was like 'OK, let's give this fourth Olympics a bash'."

She said she puts her positivity down to moving back home to Lancashire, where her love of athletics began.

"This is the place that sparked my energy and enthusiasm for athletics.

"I went down to Blackburn Harriers and that is where I pole vaulted for the first time.

"I used to go to Preston Harriers to do the hurdles and I remember running on the school field about half a mile from here, round the grass track, and it feels quite nice that I'm ending here, which is where I started."

She said her father will be with her every step of the way as she targets Paris 2024.

"Nothing gave him more joy than sitting in an athletics track with his binoculars that he always had," she said.

"He'd be really proud," she said, adding if she is selected "he'll be watching me anyway".