Molly Caudery: Cornish pole vaulter says Commonwealth silver medal 'felt like a dream'
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Molly Caudery won her first Commonwealth Games medal with silver in the pole vault at Birmingham
Cornish pole vaulter Molly Caudery said it felt like a "dream" to win a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games, eight months after cutting her finger off in a freak accident.
The 22-year-old took silver with a jump of 4.45m. Nina Kennedy of Australia won gold with 4.60m.
Caudery had multiple operations to put her finger "back together" after the "freak accident" while weight training in December.
"It feels like a dream," Caudery said.
"I'm not going to lie, last night I had the most vivid dream that I came third and then I woke up and thought no, it was a dream - now I'm here and I came second."
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Truro-born Caudery was the youngest athlete in England's athletics team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, aged 18, and went on to finish fifth in what was then her first ever major championships.
This time, Caudery said achieving a silver medal felt even better following disappointment at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon last month. At the event in Eugene, Caudery finished 25th and missed out on qualifying for the final.
"Eugene was such a disappointment for me and just made me want this even more and just makes it so much sweeter," Caudery continued.
"After Eugene, me and my coach we sat down and went through everything what went wrong what we could change.
"I think just changing my mindset and really focussing on things and then coming here and performing in front of this crowd.
"All I've been saying leading into this is how excited I am to be performing in front of this crowd and they have surpassed my expectations, they are incredible and I am so proud to be here."
Caudery also praised her England team-mate, Holly Bradshaw, who was ruled out of the pole vault final due to a hamstring injury.
"We had three of us coming here and Holly has been with me the last three years since I moved to Loughborough and she's been a great person to have around. It was so sad not to have her there.
"I've seen her in the crowd afterwards and she's doing okay, she'll be back next year again and we'll all be back together."