.jpg) World Athletics Indoor Championships, Glasgow 2024 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1996-12-11)11 December 1996 (age 28) Auckland, New Zealand |
| Height | 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)[1] |
| Sport | |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Sport | Athletics |
Event | Pole vault |
| Club | Takapuna Amateur Athletic and Harrier Club |
| Achievements and titles | |
| National finals | Pole vault champion (2015, 2016, 2017, 2023, 2024, 2025) |
| Personalbests | |
| Updated on 18 March 2016 | |
Eliza McCartney (born 11 December 1996) is a New Zealandtrack and field athlete who competes in thepole vault and won the bronze medal in thisevent at the2016 Summer Olympics. She is the currentNew Zealand andOceania record holder at 4.94 m (16 ft2+1⁄4 in), and is theoutdoor world junior record holder at 4.64 m (15 ft2+1⁄2 in) (her absolute junior record has since been passed indoors). She also won the silver medal at theSummer Universiade in 2015. In 2018, she placed second at the Commonwealth Games.[2]
McCartney was born inAuckland,[3][4] where she still lives in the seaside suburb ofDevonport. Her father William McCartney previously competed in the high jump while her mother Donna Marshall previously competed as a gymnast.[5] She has two younger brothers.[5] She attended her local primary school and then Belmont Intermediate School and later moved ontoTakapuna Grammar School, where she was in the same year as the singer-songwriterLorde; the two playednetball together.[6][7] McCartney was most fond of netball growing up, with her height and agility giving her an advantage in playing defence. She played several other sports in her youth, includingcross country running,basketball,touch rugby,squash,tennis,swimming, andwater polo.[8] Eventually, she moved onto track and field,[9] being a successfulhigh jumper in her early teens before beginning pole vaulting in 2011.[10] McCartney studiedphysiology at theUniversity of Auckland.[11][12]
In 2011, at age 14, McCartney began pole vaulting. Her first coach was Jeremy McColl.[10] In 2012, McCartney won the national youth (under 18) title and the New Zealand secondary school championship.[13] The following year she broke the New Zealand youth record and was selected for the2013 World Youth Championships in Athletics[14] where she finished fourth.[15]
In July 2014 McCartney took the bronze medal at the2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics, with a vault of 4.45 m (14 ft 7 in) which was her firstNew Zealand national record.[4] In 2015, she claimed her first senior national title at theNew Zealand Athletics Championships[13] and gained the silver medal at theUniversiade with a height of 4.40 m (14 ft 5 in).[16]
On 19 December 2015 McCartney set aworld junior record of 4.64 m (15 ft2+1⁄2 in) at Auckland'sMount Smart Stadium.[17] On 17 January 2016 she vaulted 4.65 m (15 ft 3 in) inBrisbane, Australia, improving her own national senior and junior records (but not the world junior record).[18] McCartney and McColl's long-term goal had been for her to compete at the2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, but it became clear during 2015 that the 2016 Summer Olympics inRio de Janeiro may already be a possibility.[10]
On 23 February 2016, she jumped 4.71 m (15 ft5+1⁄4 in) at the Vertical Pursuit international pole vault competition[19] at Millennium Institute of Sport in Auckland, setting four new records: New Zealand national, New Zealand under 20, New Zealand resident, and New Zealand all comers.[20] She was subsequently added to the New Zealand team to the2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships[21]
On 5 March 2016, she jumped 4.80 m (15 ft8+3⁄4 in) at the national championships inDunedin, to surpass her own New Zealand record.[22] It is not clear whether or not this set a newOceania record. TheIAAF normally requires a minimum of three competitors[23] in an event for a record to be ratified and in this case, there were only two. Regardless, the Oceanian record was broken later in July 2016 byAlana Boyd of Australia, with a jump of 4.81 m.
McCartney made her senior international debut at the March2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships inPortland, Oregon.[10] She placed fifth with a vault of 4.70 m (15 ft 5 in),[24] setting a newNew Zealand indoor record.
In April 2016, McCartney was selected to compete at the2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.[25] In the Olympic final, she cleared 4.50 m, 4.60 m, 4.70 m, and her personal best 4.80 m on her first attempts, but was eliminated after failing to clear 4.85 m. Her 4.80 m result and no misses up to that height saw her place ahead of Australia's Alana Boyd to win the bronze medal.[26] At age 19 years and 252 days, McCartney became the youngest Olympic medallist in the women's pole vault.[27] She was also only the fourthNew Zealand Olympic medallist in a field event, afterYvette Williams (long jump, 1952),Valerie Adams (shot put, 2008, 2012, 2016), andTomas Walsh (shot put, 2016).[10] BMX riderSarah Walker, anOlympic silver medallist, approached McCartney at theHalberg Awards ceremony on 18 February 2016 and has been mentoring her since.[28]
On 22 February 2017, McCartney equalled her indoor national record of 4.70 m (15 ft 5 in) at the Vertical Pursuit, held at Auckland'sBritomart precinct.[29] Four days later, she jumped a height of 4.82 m (15 ft9+3⁄4 in) at the Auckland Track Challenge, breaking her own national record and the Oceanian record.[30] On 26 May 2018, Mccartney again broke her national and Oceanian records when she jumped a height of 4.85 m (15 ft10+3⁄4 in) at thePrefontaine Classic inOregon.[31]
On 24 June 2018, inMannheim, Germany, she improved upon her personal best to 4.86. A few minutes later, she improved it again to 4.92.[32] The 4.92 ranks her as the fourth highest female vaulter in history. On 18 July 2018, at a "street vault" inJockgrim, Germany, McCartney cleared 4.94m. The vault was a new National and Oceania record and the #1 vault in the world in 2018.[33]
In her first competition of 2019, McCartney cleared 4.85 m at the Potts Classic, breaking her New Zealand resident record.[1][34] Anachilles tendon injury in March 2021 prevented her from competing in theTokyo Olympics.[35] The same injury prevented McCartney from competing in the2022 Commonwealth Games.[36][37]
McCartney won a silver medal at the2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, clearing 4.80 m but losing out on gold to Britain'sMolly Caudery on count back.[38]
McCartney won the Emerging Talent category of New Zealand'sHalberg Awards for 2015 at an awards ceremony held on 18 February 2016.[39][40] The year before, she was a finalist in the Halberg Awards Emerging Talent category, which was won by cyclistRegan Gough.[41]
McCartney's 4.80 m vault that won her the Olympic bronze medal was voted New Zealand's Favourite Sporting Moment at the Halberg Awards for 2016.[42]
In October 2016, McCartney became an ambassador for Beef and Lamb New Zealand, joining existing athlete ambassadorsLisa Carrington,Sophie Pascoe, andSarah Walker.[43] Also in October 2016, McCartney became a brand ambassador for Blueberries NZ.[44] In December 2016, McCartney featured alongside several other notable New Zealanders in an aircraft safety video forAir New Zealand, entitledSummer of Safety.[45] In June 2021, McCartney became the Hyundai NZ Electric Vehicle ambassador.[46]
| Event | Height | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pole vault (outdoor) | 4.94 mAR | 23 June 2018 | Mannheim, Germany |
| Pole vault (indoor) | 4.75 mNR | 3 March 2018 | Birmingham, United Kingdom |
| High jump | 1.73 m | Auckland, New Zealand |
| Year | Performance | Competition | Location | Date | World ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 3.60 m | New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships | Wellington, New Zealand | 10 December | – |
| 2012 | 3.85 m | New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships | Dunedin, New Zealand | 8 December | – |
| 2013 | 4.11 m | Greater Auckland Secondary Schools Championships | Auckland, New Zealand | 26 March | – |
| 2014 | 4.45 m | World Junior Championships | Eugene (OR), United States | 24 July | 36= |
| 2015 | 4.64 m | Summer Series 7 | Auckland, New Zealand | 19 December | 19 |
| 2016 | 4.80 m | New Zealand National Championships | Dunedin, New Zealand | 5 March | 9 |
| Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 19 August | |||
| 2017 | 4.82 m | Auckland Track Challenge | North Shore, New Zealand | 26 February | 4 |
| 2018 | 4.94 m | Stabhochsprung | Jockgrim, Germany | 17 July |
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | World Youth Championships | Donetsk, Ukraine | 4th | Pole vault | 4.05 m |
| 2014 | World Junior Championships | Eugene, United States | 3rd | Pole vault | 4.45 mNR |
| 2015 | Universiade | Gwangju, South Korea | 2nd | Pole vault | 4.40 m |
| 2016 | World Indoor Championships | Portland, United States | 5th | Pole vault | 4.70 mNR |
| Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 3rd | Pole vault | 4.80 mNR | |
| 2017 | World Championships | London, United Kingdom | 9th | Pole vault | 4.55 m |
| 2018 | World Indoor Championships | Birmingham, United Kingdom | 4th | Pole vault | 4.75 m |
| Commonwealth Games | Gold Coast, Australia | 2nd | Pole vault | 4.70 m | |
| 2023 | World Championships | Budapest, Hungary | – | Pole vault | NM |
| 2024 | World Indoor Championships | Glasgow, United Kingdom | 2nd | Pole vault | 4.80 m |
| Olympic Games | Paris, France | 6th | Pole vault | 4.70 m | |
| 2025 | World Championships | Tokyo, Japan | 7th (q) | Pole vault | 4.60 m1 |
1No mark in the final
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Halberg Awards – Emerging Talent Award 2015 | Succeeded by |
