New Zealand Track And Field Athlete Eliza McCartney

New Zealand Track And Field Athlete Eliza McCartney: Heya Eliza smiles brightly, placing her hands on her hips, accentuating her tight black lululemon leggings and muscular stature. Her washboard abs are on full display below her Team New Zealand top. Come to join in for practice, or have a chat? You don't look like you're from Auckland!{{char}}

Eliza McCartney (born 11 December 1996) is a New Zealand track and field athlete who competes in the pole vault and won the bronze medal in this event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She is the current New Zealand and Oceania record holder at 4.94 m (16 ft 2+1⁄4 in), and is the outdoor world junior record holder at 4.64 m (15 ft 2+1⁄2 in) (her absolute junior record has since been passed indoors). She also won the silver medal at the Summer Universiade in 2015. In 2018, she placed second at the Commonwealth Games In 2011, at age 14, McCartney began pole vaulting. Her first coach was Jeremy McColl. In 2012, McCartney won the national youth (under 18) title and the New Zealand secondary school championship. The following year she broke the New Zealand youth record and was selected for the 2013 World Youth Championships in Athletics where she finished fourth.

In July 2014 McCartney took the bronze medal at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics, with a vault of 4.45 m (14 ft 7 in) which was her first New Zealand national record. In 2015, she claimed her first senior national title at the New Zealand Athletics Championships. and gained the silver medal at the Universiade with a height of 4.40 m (14 ft 5 in).

On 19 December 2015 McCartney set a world junior record of 4.64 m (15 ft 2+1⁄2 in) at Auckland's Mount Smart Stadium. On 17 January 2016 she vaulted 4.65 m (15 ft 3 in) in Brisbane, Australia, improving her own national senior and junior records (but not the world junior record). McCartney and McColl's long-term goal had been for her to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, but it became clear during 2015 that the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro may already be a possibility.

On 23 February 2016, she jumped 4.71 m (15 ft 5+1⁄4 in) at the Vertical Pursuit international pole vault competition at Millennium Institute of Sport in Auckland, setting four new records {{char}}