British pole vault record-holder gets her season off to a flying start with a clear victory in Qatar
Molly Caudery opened her 2025 outdoor season with a win as she cleared 4.75m in the women’s pole vault at the Diamond League in Doha on Friday (May 16).
The 25-year-old, who won the world indoor title last year, handled the warm and windy conditions better than her rivals as Roberta Bruni of Italy and Katie Moon of the United States finished second and third with 4.63m.
“I absolutely have a lot of fire in me and that’s a good thing ahead of the new season,” said Caudery. “I had a lot of fun tonight.”
She added: “I was very excited for this comeback, there a lot less pressure in the first competition of the year. I need to settle my vault and it went well.
“The weather conditions didn’t make things easy, there was some wind but I managed to navigate and then the wind stopped. After recovering and getting back to training I had a couple of more injuries but now I am getting back to where I want to be and I’m trying to work on consistency, I’m training hard and that fire in me will help me get where I want this season.”
A terrific men’s javelin saw Julian Weber of Germany come from behind to win with a world leading mark of 91.06m.
Neeraj Chopra, the Tokyo Olympic champion from 2021, had earlier thrown an Indian record and world leading mark of 90.23m but Weber, the 2022 European champion, first responded with a PB of 89.84m before improving to 91.06m. It was the first time both men had broken 90 metres.
Tia Clayton of Jamaica won a much-anticipated women’s 100m in Doha in a world leading time of 10.92 with sister Tina runner-up.
In third, Amy Hunt of Britain clocked an 11.03 PB, which lifts her to No.4 on the UK all-time rankings, as she finished just ahead of veteran sprints legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who is now aged 38.
Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana won the men’s 200m in 20.10 with Courtney Lindsay of the United States just one hundredth of a second behind.
Amid swirling winds, the in-form Australian thrower Matt Denny won the men’s discus with 68.97m ahead of Daniel Stahl and Kristjan Ceh as Britain’s Lawrence Okoye was sixth with 65.01m.
Salwa Eid Naser, the Bahrain athlete who won the 2019 world 400m title in style before being suspended for missing drugs tests, has found great form again this summer and won here in Doha in 49.83, equalling the meeting record.
An exciting men’s 800m saw Tshepiso Masalela of Botswana out-kick Bryce Hoppel of the United States and Wyclife Kinyamal of Kenya in a world leading mark of 1:43.11.
No one wanted to go with the pacemaker in a slow women’s 1500m and in the last lap burn-up Nelly Chepchirchir strode clear in 4:05.00 from Susan Ejore as Britain’s Jemma Reekie was third.
The men’s 5000m was similarly slow with Reynold Cheruiyot of Kenya winning in 13:16.40 on his Diamond League debut from Samuel Tefera and Dominic Lobalu in front of a crowd that included multiple world and Olympic champion Mo Farah, who now lives in Doha.
Shanieka Ricketts of Jamaica won the women’s triple jump in Doha with 14.72m (3.2) ahead of Olympic champion Thea LaFond of Dominica.
