Holly Bradshaw

Holly Bethan Bradshaw
Personal information
Birth name Holly Bethan Bleasdale
Nationality British
Born (1991-11-02) 2 November 1991
Preston, Lancashire, Great Britain
Residence Euxton
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 66 kg (10 st 6 lb; 146 lb)
Spouse(s) Paul Bradshaw
Sport
Country Great Britain
Event(s) Pole Vault
Club Blackburn
Turned pro 2010
Coached by Scott Simpson
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s) 4.80m (2017)
4.87m i (2012)[1]
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Great Britain
World Indoor Championships
2012 Istanbul Pole vault
European Indoor Championships
2013 Gothenburg Pole vault
World Junior Championships
2010 Moncton Pole vault
Updated on March 2013.

Holly Bethan Bradshaw (née Bleasdale, 2 November 1991) is a British track and field athlete who specialises in the pole vault. She is the current British record holder in the event, having broken Kate Dennison's record on 2 July 2011, and is also the 2013 European Indoor Champion. She is coached by Scott Simpson.[2]

Early life

Bradshaw was involved in gymnastics from the age of six until she was 11, when she decided to try running. It was not until she was 17 that she tried pole vault for the first time.

Education

Bradshaw was educated at Parklands Languages High School, a co-educational state comprehensive school in the town of Chorley in Lancashire, in North West England. She attended Runshaw College in Leyland from 2008-2010, where she completed her A-Levels.[3] She is now studying for a degree in Sports Exercise and Science at Manchester Met University via distance learning to allow time for her training.

Career

Bleasdale at the 2012 London Olympics

Bradshaw's Junior career took off when she broke the British Junior pole vault record in June 2010, with a vault of 4.35m. A month later, she competed at the 2010 World Junior Championship, in which she was the favourite for the gold medal. However, she failed to vault higher than 4.15m, resulting in a bronze medal behind Angelica Bengtsson and Victoria von Eynatten, who vaulted 4.25m and 4.20m respectively.[4]

Bradshaw's first competition of the 2011 season was the 2011 European Indoor Championships, where she finished 11th in the qualifying round, with a best vault of 4.45m. Later in 2011, she represented Great Britain in the European Team Championships, where she finished in 5th place.

In June 2011, Bradshaw set a new British U23 record with a 4.53m vault at the British Under-23 Championships in Bedford.[5] However, just 5 days later, she set a new British senior record of 4.70m,[6][7] which was also a world U23 record.

In January 2012, Bradshaw improved the British indoor record by clearing 4.87m in Villeurbanne, during a Perche Élite Tour meeting. This puts her third on the world all-time list, behind Yelena Isinbayeva and Jenn Suhr, and also third all-time for indoor performances. At the same competition she made her first world indoor record attempt at 5.01m, but failed.[8] Later that year, on 11 March she won a bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships held in Istanbul.

Bradshaw competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She managed to reach the final, but knocked the bar at 4.55m, causing her to crash out of the running for a medal. However, she managed to finish in the top 8. In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, Bradshaw said that she was disappointed but that "by Rio, I will be at the top of my game." Bradshaw won gold at the 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Gothenburg with a height of 4.67m in a jump off with Polands Anna Rogowska, both having previously jumped 4.72. She later stated in an interview that she could have shared gold with Rogowska, but chose to jump off to be the lone winner of the gold.[9]

In 2015, she comes back on track. She has a season best of 4.55 m, enough to be part of the British Team to the world Championships. At the World Championships in Beijing, Bleasdale cleared 4.70 m before failing at 4.80 m. With this height, she finished 7th in the final where the Cuban Yarisley Silva took the gold medal with a jump of 4.90 m.

2016 Olympics and 2017

Bradshaw competed in Rio 2016 Summer Olympics, jumping 4.60m to advance to the final. In the final she cleared 4.70m on her second attempt but failed her three attempts at 4.80m and finished fifth.[10] She almost cleared her last attempt at 4.80m but in the last moment the cross bar fell to the ground.[11]

After the Olympics, she competed in 2016 Diamond League in Zurich, winning first place with 4.76m.[12][13]

Personal life

After her disappointment at finishing in sixth place at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Bradshaw, then still Bleasdale, announced on Twitter that she had accepted the marriage proposal of her long-term boyfriend, Paul Bradshaw. She stated that this made it the "best day ever". Her tweet was as follows: "6th in the Olympics and @bradshaaaw proposes to me :) epic day!!!" Bradshaw's tweet in reply read: "I have just proposed to @HollyBleasdale and she said yes!!!!! Best day ever!"[14]

Having competed previously under her maiden name, Bradshaw confirmed she would return to action under her married name in 2015.[15]

References

  1. ↑ BBC, SPORT (22 January 2012). "Holly Bleasdale smashes own British pole vault record". BBC. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  2. ↑ http://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=21834
  3. ↑ "FE students add to Team GB Olympic medal haul". FE Week. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  4. ↑ BBC, SPORT (24 July 2011). "World Junior medals for Hitchon and Bleasdale". BBC. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  5. ↑ Mulkeen, Jon (27 June 2010). "Bleasdale breaks record, Williams one of four double winners in Bedford". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  6. ↑ Mulkeen, Jon (2 July 2011). "Bleasdale smashes UK pole vault record". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  7. ↑ Reporter, Sportsmail (2 July 2011). "Bleasdale soars to set new pole vault record in Germany". London: Daily Mail. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  8. ↑ "Enorme saut de L’Anglaise Holly Bleasdale qui passe 4.87m à Villeurbanne" (in French). athlenews.com. 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  9. ↑ "Holly Bleasdale wins gold at European Indoor Championships". BBC Sport. 2013-03-02. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
  10. ↑ "Rio 2016 pole vault women - Olympic Athletics". International Olympic Committee. 2017-01-25. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  11. ↑ "Holly Bradshaw misses out on medal after finishing fifth in pole vault". Mail Online. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  12. ↑ "diamond league 2016 zurich results" (PDF).
  13. ↑ "Diamond League joy for Scholar and pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  14. ↑ "Holly Bleasdale accepts marriage proposal after pole vault final". BBC News. 7 August 2012.
  15. ↑ Bradshaw sets sights on return
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