The indoor jumping world champion will miss the Commonwealth Games and European Championships after a successful microdiscectomy.
British pole vault record holder Molly Codery has been ruled out for the rest of the 2026 season after undergoing emergency spinal surgery.
The 26-year-old revealed on Saturday (June 13) that she required a microdiscectomy, a procedure to remove part of a damaged spinal disc, after a back problem quickly worsened last week.
As a result, Cowdery will miss two of the summer’s biggest events, the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the European Championships in Birmingham.
The news comes just days after the world champion produced one of her best performances of the year, winning the Diamond League meet in Rome with a season’s best 4.80m.
Writing on Instagram, Cowdery said: “And just like that, my season was over. It absolutely breaks my heart that I’m even writing this, missing another important champs and home games.
“Emergency spine surgery was not on my 2026 bingo card.”
Cowdery explained that the back flare had gotten significantly worse in a short period of time, prompting doctors to intervene.
“Last week I had a flare-up in my back which quickly worsened and required immediate surgery to prevent further damage,” he said.
“The surgery went well and my road to recovery begins today.”
The setback is the latest in a string of disappointing knocks for the British athlete. After winning world indoor gold and setting a British record of 4.92m in 2024, he failed to clear the height at the Paris Olympics and then missed the 2025 world championships in Tokyo after suffering a horrific ankle injury in the warm-up.
He also nearly lost a finger over Christmas before the 2022 season after a weightlifting injury in the gym and had to undergo emergency surgery on his hand.
Commonwealth silver medalist in 2022 and European bronze medalist in 2024, Codery hoped 2026 would provide an opportunity to challenge for major outdoor honors on home soil.
“I really thought 2026 was going to be my year after the heartbreak in Paris and Tokyo and everything in between,” he added, “but I wanted to add another chapter to the autobiography before returning.”
