New Zealand pole vaulter Eliza McCartney. Photo: Simon Stacpoole / www.photosport.nz
New Zealand pole vaulters have finished out of the podium positions at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo with Eliza McCartney managing just one jump before retiring.
Olivia McTaggart was the best of the three New Zealanders in the final finishing in eighth place with a height of 4.65 metres.
McCartney retired after failing in her first attempt at the opening height of 4.45m.
McCartney had little competition this year because of fitness and was selected for the World Championship team on her form in training.
She, along with McTaggart and Imogen Ayris, qualified for the final by clearing 4.60 metres.
However it wasn't the former Olympic bronze medalist's night as she was unable to record a height before pulling out of the competition reportedly with an injury.
Ayris finished 10th with a height of 4.45m.
American Katie Moon became the first woman to win a third consecutive world pole vault title when she cleared a season's best 4.90m to edge out compatriot Sandi Morris in a nail-biting contest.
Morris, the Rio Olympic silver medallist from 2016, collected a fourth world silver after clearing 4.85m, while Slovenia's Tina Sutej took bronze with 4.80m.
Moon had an attempt at the 5.01m championship record set by Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva in 2005, but ran through and decided to celebrate her win.
-RNZ/Reuters
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
