Latest news with #OliviaMcTaggart
Otago Daily Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Career-best leap for McTaggart
Olivia McTaggart attempts another height during the women's pole vault final at the Diamond League in London yesterday. PHOTO: REUTERS New Zealand pole vaulter Olivia McTaggart hit her stride in London yesterday. She soaked up the noise from a 60,000-strong crowd at London Stadium to produce the performance of her career. McTaggart leaped to a lifetime best, clearing 4.73m to claim the top spot at the United Kingdom's only stop on the Diamond League circuit. McTaggart won the event ahead of one of the strongest pole vault fields assembled this season, including hometown hero Molly Caudery, the 2024 world indoor champion, and Katie Moon (United States), the 2020 Olympic champion and 2022 and 2023 world champion. The effort eclipsed her previous best of 4.71m, which she jumped just five days earlier at the Spitzen Leichtathletik meet in Switzerland. The height is also the world championships entry standard, all but securing her spot in Tokyo for the world championships next month, pending official selection from Athletics New Zealand. While four competitors cleared 4.73m, McTaggart was the only one do to so on her second attempt. Moon, Angelica Moser (Switzerland) and Emily Grove (US) all required three attempts at the height. Alongside McTaggart, the four remaining athletes all fell short of clearing the next height in the progression of 4.84m, leaving the Diamond League crown to the New Zealander. The Auckland-based vaulter has been training and living in Loughborough, UK, for the past several months, competing on the European circuit. The Diamond League circuit enjoys a brief hiatus over the next few weeks before roaring back into life again on August 16 in Silesia. — APL
NZ Herald
6 days ago
- Sport
- NZ Herald
Pole vault: Kiwi Olivia McTaggart shines with career-best 4.73m win in Diamond League
New Zealand pole vaulter Olivia McTaggart, pictured ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Photo / RNZ Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen. New Zealand pole vaulter Olivia McTaggart, pictured ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Photo / RNZ By RNZ New Zealand pole vaulter Olivia McTaggart has produced the performance of her career in winning the Diamond League event at London's Olympic Stadium. In front of a sold-out crowd of 60,000, McTaggart leapt to a new lifetime best, clearing 4.73m to claim the victory on a countback. McTaggart won the event ahead of one of the strongest pole vault fields assembled this season, which included hometown hero Molly Caudery, the 2024 world indoor champion, and American Katie Moon, the 2020 Olympic champion and the 2022 and 2023 world champion. McTaggart's 4.73m jump eclipses her previous best of 4.71m, which she recorded just five days ago in Switzerland.
Otago Daily Times
6 days ago
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
McTaggart leaps to lifetime best
Olivia McTaggart won the London event ahead of one of the strongest pole vault fields assembled this season. New Zealand pole vaulter Olivia McTaggart has produced the performance of her career, winning the Diamond League event at London's Olympic Stadium. In front of a sold-out crowd of 60,000 McTaggart leapt to a new lifetime best, clearing 4.73 metres to claim the victory on a countback. McTaggart won the event ahead of one of the strongest pole vault fields assembled this season including hometown hero Molly Caudery, the 2024 world indoor champion, and American Katie Moon, the 2020 Olympic Champion and the 2022 and 2023 World Champion. The 4.73m vault eclipses her previous best of 4.71m, which she recorded just five days ago in Switzerland. The height is also the World Athletics Championships "Entry Standard", all but securing her spot on Tokyo for the World Championships in September, pending official selection from Athletics New Zealand. While four competitors cleared 4.73m, McTaggart was the only one do to so on her second attempt, with Moon, her fellow American Emily Grove, and Switzerland's Angelica Moser all requiring three attempts at that height. Alongside McTaggart, the four remaining athletes all fell short of clearing the next height in the progression of 4.84m, leaving the Diamond League crown to McTaggart. The Auckland-based vaulter has been training and living in Loughborough, in the United Kingdom, for several months while she competes on the European circuit. The Diamond League circuit enjoys a brief hiatus over the next few weeks before roaring back in to life again on August 16 in Silesia, Poland.
RNZ News
6 days ago
- Sport
- RNZ News
Athletics: Pole vaulter Olivia McTaggart wins London Diamond League event
New Zealand pole vaulter Olivia McTaggart, ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly Pole vaulter Olivia McTaggart has produced the performance of her career in winning the Diamond League event, held at London's Olympic Stadium. In front of a sold out crowd of 60,000, McTaggart leapt to a new lifetime best, clearing 4.73m to claim the victory on a countback. McTaggart won the event ahead of one of the strongest pole vault fields assembled this season, which included hometown hero Molly Caudery, the 2024 world indoor champion, and American Katie Moon, the 2020 Olympic Champion and the 2022 and 2023 World Champion. 4.73m eclipses her previous best of 4.71m, which she recorded just five days ago in Switzerland. The height is also the World Athletics Championships "Entry Standard", all but securing her spot on Tokyo for the World Championships this September, pending official selection from Athletics New Zealand. While four competitors cleared 4.73m, McTaggart was the only one do to so on her second attempt, with Moon, her fellow American Emily Grove, and Switzerland's Angelica Moser all requiring three attempts at the height. Alongside McTaggart, the four remaining athletes all fell short of clearing the next height in the progression of 4.84m, leaving the Diamond League crown to McTaggart. The Auckland-based vaulter has been training and living in Loughborough, in the UK for several months while she competes on the European circuit. The Diamond League circuit enjoys a brief hiatus over the next few weeks before roaring back in to life again on 16 August in Silesia, Poland. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NZ Herald
16-07-2025
- Sport
- NZ Herald
Athletics Insight: London Athletics Meet draws 60,000 fans amid packed UK sports month
This month has also seen some closely fought test cricket between England and India, with the third test ending on Monday with a nail-biting finish. Added to the mix is the Women's Football Euro Championships where, after a shaky start, England are in the quarter-finals, and the Fifa World Club Championships, where Chelsea overcame the odds to beat the in-form Paris Saint-Germain 3-0. It is therefore hardly surprising that there has been little media coverage of the London Diamond League in the UK. It never fails to disappoint me that a sport that gets blanket coverage in the UK media in Olympic and Commonwealth Games years, and a sport that can sell out a stadium weeks ahead of the meet, gets negligible media coverage. This year's meet differs from recent years because of the late timing of the World Championships in Tokyo on September 13-21). Last year, the Olympic Games track and field was in early August. The London edition of the Diamond League was the last major meet before the games and therefore provided an excellent preparation for the Olympics. New Zealand athletes benefited from this and were well represented in the world-class fields, whereas this year, pole vaulter Olivia McTaggart is the sole Kiwi competitor. Sprinter Zoe Hobbs, who broke her New Zealand record clocking 10.94s at the Ostrava Golden Spike Meeting and last week gained her first Diamond League podium finish in Monaco (third), is back in New Zealand preparing for Tokyo. High jumper Hamish Kerr is preparing elsewhere in Europe and others are at different stages of preparation at different venues for a championship that is still nine weeks away. There is a mouthwatering programme at the weekend with men's long jump the first of 14 Diamond League events at 12.53pm, concluding with the 1500 metres at 3.48pm. In the field events, there is a final round, after five rounds for the leading three athletes, timetabled on the meet schedule. Local fans and organisers are disappointed that 800m Paris gold medal winner Keely Hodgkinson, originally slated to run, has pulled out through injury. Jakob Ingebrigtsen has not yet recovered from injury and the Josh Kerr (UK) versus Ingebrigtsen (Norway) contest will have to wait for another day. However, the remaining field has exciting depth and quality. There will be considerable interest in Sifan Hassan (Netherlands), who has stepped down to the mile. In the field are Australians Jessica Hull (world ranked 2) and Linden Hall (ranked 15) who was the women's mile winner at the Cooks Classic in January. Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles (US) faces the 200m champion Letsile Tebogo (Botswana) in a quality field and the exciting Dutch 400m hurdles champion Femke Bol will seek to beat her own meet record. There is depth and world quality in every event. I can't wait and will reflect on the meet next week. I left for the UK straight after the New Zealand Schools Cross Country in June and it is pleasing to see two stars in Whangārei shine overseas. Sam Ruthe continues his record-breaking ways, setting New Zealand under-17 and 18 1500m records in Los Angeles, while the senior girls champion, Siena Mackley, set a personal best to finish second over 1000m (2:54.79) in a national event in Monaco last weekend.
