Olympic bronze medallist Eliza McCartney of New Zealand jumped to the top of the 2018 world list with a 4.94m clearance in the pole vault in Jockgrim, Germany on Tuesday (17).

McCartney shared the lead during the early stages of the competition with USA’s 2012 Olympic champion Jenn Suhr, both going over 4.60m and 4.70m on their first attempts. Suhr then moved into the lead with a first-time clearance at 4.80m while McCartney needed two attempts to get over it.

Britain’s Holly Bradshaw also cleared that height on her second attempt while USA’s Katie Nageotte bowed out of the competition with a best clearance of 4.70m.

Suhr and McCartney then both went clear at 4.87m on their second attempts as Suhr held on to the lead. McCartney, however, went on to vault 4.94m on her third attempt at that height to claim the victory.

The mark added two centimetres to the Oceanian record McCartney set in Mannheim last month and moves her to third place on the outdoor world all-time list. The 21-year-old had one attempt at 5.01m before ending her series.

Three days after winning the world U20 title with a championship record, Sweden’s Armand Duplantis won the men’s competition with 5.80m. He opened with 5.50m, got over 5.65m on his second attempt, skipped 5.73m and then cleared 5.80m on his first try.

Australia’s Kurtis Marschall cleared a best of 5.73m to finish second, while China’s Huang Bokai was third with 5.65m.

Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF