Molly Caudery with season’s top pole vault result at the British Athletics Championships

Molly Caudery provided one of the highlights of the first day of the British Athletics Championships in Birmingham. Jumping at the Alexander Stadium, which will host the 2026 European Athletics Championships, Molly Caudery cleared 4.85m on her third attempt – the highest outdoor pole vault jump of 2025, just a month before the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

Thus, Molly Caudery triumphed with the gold in the women’s pole vault ahead of Natalie Hooper, who earned the silver with the modest 4.35m. The bronze remained for Felicia Miloro with 4.25m. Jade Ive and Gemma Tutton missed the podium and completed the Top 5.

European U20 200m champion Amy Hunt won the women’s 100m title in a personal best of 11.02 sec, while four-time European champion Zharnel Hughes triumphed in the men’s 100m in 9.94 sec (+2.4 m/sec) ahead of world and European indoor champion Jeremie Azou (9.97 sec) and Louie Hinchliffe (10.01 sec).

Other championship records set on the first day included Elise Thorner’s 3,000m steeplechase in 9:22.05 min, beating Sarah Tait’s Scottish record of 9:25.17 min.

Anna Purchase added further glamour to her hammer throw victory, improving the championship record to 72.96m on her sixth attempt.