The former world pole vaulter explains why she will be cautious off the track as she aims to take advantage of the many major opportunities that lie ahead this year.
Molly Cowdery is taking no chances ahead of summer 2026, which includes the European Championships, the Commonwealth Games and the final world athletics championships. “I don’t even run to train now because I wouldn’t want to run without a warm-up,” he says.
The British pole vault record holder and 2024 world indoor champion says her “clumsiness” has led to several injuries in the past. Notably, he cut his finger badly when a weightlifting session went wrong four years ago. At last year’s world championships in Tokyo, he tore tendons and ligaments in his ankle after catching his foot on the mat during a run, although to be fair that was probably more a case of bad luck than sheer clumsiness.
“I’ve pretty much de-risked myself,” he says. “If I can roll my ankle doing what I’m doing, I don’t risk doing anything else. I’m really clumsy and a lot of my injuries have been caused by being clumsy, which isn’t ideal.”
However, he is more confident of avoiding trouble when he runs. “It’s so natural to me on the runway and I know where everything is. I could almost do it with my eyes closed. I’m almost faster with a pole than without. It’s like it’s what I was born to do. But as soon as I get off that runway, it’s not good. I can easily trip over my own feet.”
This means no ice skating and no skiing holidays for Christmas. Having grown up on the North Cornish coast, however, he finds it hard to resist the occasional surf. “Surfing is the only thing I would do,” he says, “because I’m confident I’m going to do it. But definitely no ice skating or skiing or anything like that. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s the little choices you make.”
His clumsiness, he says, “stresses most people out.” He explains. “My mother is always sensible. My coach (Scott Simpson) also tells me to be smart. When I almost cut my finger off (Christmas 2021) that was really the breaking point. I had to drive from Cornwall to Derby for the operation, which was a bit of a disadvantage.”
Fortunately, he also has no signs of the effects of his injuries. “My finger that had surgery doesn’t bend as much as it used to, but it doesn’t affect my pole vault because it’s my lower arm and the pressure goes through my palm.
“Away from the pole vault runway, I just try to stay safe and wrap myself in balloons as much as possible.”
The 25-year-old talks AW: Just before traveling down from his home in Loughborough to spend Christmas with his family. After Tokyo, he spent several weeks in a boot, so he spent the first part of the winter working on core fitness and conditioning. As we speak, she is preparing to stake again for the first time and tackle the pole vault runway in training.
Referring to 2025, he says: “Definitely not what I expected coming into the year. There have been many ups and downs. Probably more downs than ups actually.
“I had a really great winter training and then on my last day of camp in South Africa I had a bit of a tear and from there to Tokyo I had no stability when I blew out my ankle.
“It was frustrating because I didn’t get a chance to train the way I wanted to train. We didn’t do any speed training because it was my hamstring and then my calf and Achilles and all over the place.
“But the year I did and still jumped 4.85m and consistently jumped that mark, that was the only thing that kept me going. It was heart breaking in Tokyo. Especially after Paris (he inexplicably failed the 4.55m Olympic qualifier), I wanted to go out there and be in contention before the medal race started.
He adds about the injury he received in Tokyo. “It’s really rare. I haven’t seen anyone do it, other than a few long jumpers who did it on the landing. I didn’t break any bones, but I tore some tendons and ligaments.”
Referring to it, he adds: “I’m still pretty new to the big league scene, so it’s not going to be amazing every year. So having a bad year to jump to such heights is a good thing.”
This will begin training in South Africa this year. The World Indoor Championships in Poland is also a possibility, but only if he feels he is 100 per cent.
“I won’t be doing a full indoor season, although I hope to go to the World Indoor Championships,” he says, clearly keen to retain the crown he won so brilliantly in Glasgow almost two years ago. “But I don’t want to go there unless I’m 100% fit.
He then plans to train in Turkey in April before the competition circuit and a triple whammy of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the European Championships in Birmingham and the World Championships in Budapest.
“I’m really excited about summer,” she says. “I think it will be a lot of fun to have the Commies and Europeans in the UK and then the Ultimate Championships as the final event of the season in Budapest.
“I will definitely try to do them all. At the Commies it’s a straight final and then the Europeans a few weeks later the qualifiers shouldn’t be too bad. And then straight to the final in Budapest as well. So it’s not that different from jumping around the Diamond League circuit.”
He adds about the new Ultimate Championship. “They put a lot of money into it, which is always an incentive for athletes. For non-Commonwealth and European people, I think this will be the highlight of their year.”
There is also the amazing prospect of jumping into a street athletics event on Oxford Street in central London during the Diamond League weekend.
“I think it could be the highlight of the year,” he says excitedly. “It would be amazing, so exciting for the sport.
“I saw that the women’s pole vault is not in the London Diamond League in 2026 and I haven’t done that well there over the years, but I want to keep going until I win there. Then a few days later I heard that they might have a street match on Oxford Street, which would be the best competition in the world, to be honest.”
Cowdery’s presence in the city center pole vault in the British capital will also benefit British athletics. Especially since his world indoor victory, his profile has exploded. He has nearly 400,000 followers on Instagram and sponsorship deals with Adidas, Red Bull and NordicTrack treadmills and cross-training machines.
Cowdery has enjoyed a number of street pole vault events in recent seasons. He says that jumping into the train station in Zurich is a great experience. The Fly Athens pole vault meet organized by friend Emmanuel “Manolo” Karalis, an event set against the backdrop of the historic and picturesque Panathenaic Stadium, is one of his favorite events.
“They’re a lot of fun and they bring a big crowd and they’re great for the crowd and the spectators,” said Cowdery, who also won 4.80m in Athens last July.
Furthermore, her British record of 4.92m was achieved at the street meet, the Toulouse Capitol Perches in France in 2024.
However, sometimes street encounters don’t end well. His last competition before Tokyo last year was a street meet in Italy, but his event went ahead despite the men’s event being held the following day.
But for someone who has already traveled the circuit so much in his short career, what is his favorite place, apart from his home track of Carn Brea in Cornwall of course. “London is always hard to beat,” he smiles. “And Budapest really stuck with me. Fifth place there (World Champions in 2023) was a turning point for me. So to have the eventual world champions there this year is exciting. Monaco is also beautiful and Paris was a beautiful stadium as well, although I kind of missed that for obvious reasons.”
As a world indoor champion, does she prefer to jump inside or outside? He chooses the latter.
“I prefer outdoors because it means more. Outside means more, there’s no pressure, and not everyone does it. Being a world champion is great, but it doesn’t carry the weight of a world outdoor title. They have pros and cons because the wind and rain outside are not good, but I prefer outside.”
To prepare for this summer, he says. “We don’t go too hard in training and we don’t do anything crazy. I’d just like some consistency and then I’ll be in great shape.”
Some better luck in the clumsiness department would be a bonus too.
