In September last year, a freak ankle injury at the Tokyo World Athletics Championship, which was supposed to be her redemption tournament, led to the yips for Molly Caudery. Despite the setback, she fought through and returned with a sensational performance in Torun in March 2026. It marked what she believed was the start of something special, a year where she would break her own national record. Her performance in Rome emphasised that. But another heartbreaking setback has taken her off the board again.

26-year-old Caudery, who holds Britain’s 4.92m pole vault record set in 2024, confirmed that she had to undergo emergency spinal surgery, bringing her 2026 season to a sudden end. As per her statement on Instagram, Caudery needed a microdiscectomy, an operation to remove part of a spinal disc after a sudden flare of pain.

“Emergency spinal surgery (microdiscectomy) wasn’t on my 2026 bingo card,” Caudery wrote on Instagram, marking her third major setback in two years.

“And just like that, my season is over 💔 absolutely heartbroken to even be writing this, missing out on yet another year of major champs & home games. For context I had a back flare up last week that got worse quickly and immediate surgical intervention was needed to prevent any further damage.”

It marks yet another heartbreaking moment in the 26-year-old’s young career, and brings an end to what looked like the start of an impressive season. After all, the British pole vaulter had only just hit a season-best height in the outdoors, registering 4.80m at the Rome Diamond League. It earned her the gold over Nina Kennedy and Angelica Moser, establishing Caudery as one of the favourites again.

That has long been her title, with the 26-year-old being among the favourites going into every tournament she has qualified for. She earned her reputation after setting the current British national record in 2024, when she hit 4.92m ahead of the Paris Olympics. However, everything came crashing down in France under shocking circumstances.

There, Caudery opted to start at 4.50m, the only entrant to do so, and she failed to clear the bar with her three tries. All the other entrants picked 4.40m, and nine of them advanced at that height. The 26-year-old admitted that she “messed up” in Paris, saying it was “100 per cent on me”. Tokyo, though, was supposed to be her redemption tournament at the 2025 World Championships.

However, during her warm-up, Caudery suffered a freak injury that caused bone bruising and ruptured several ligaments. Once again, she had to recover and rehabilitate, and a mental block only added to her troubles. The British pole vaulter eventually returned and did so in style, winning the World Indoor Championships in Torun. She almost effortlessly soared to gold with a height of 4.85m.

Only Hana Moll’s January world lead pole vault score of 4.88m outdoes Caudery’s vault this season. That’s a record that still stands, even if the pole vaulter will miss out on the remainder of the year.

“The surgery was a success & my road to recovery starts today!!” Caudery added. “Really thought 2026 was going to be my year after heartbreak in Paris & Tokyo & everything in between but just wanted to add another chapter in the autobiography before the comeback lol.”

What makes this latest setback even more cruel is that Caudery had only recently worked her way back from the scars left by her Tokyo injury. In fact, before returning to the top of the podium in Torun, the British record holder admitted that the injury had left her battling a mental block.

Molly Caudery opens up on her mental block after injury in Torun

After her poor showcase during the Paris Olympics, Molly Caudery was hell-bent on dominating at the 2025 World Championships in Torun. She entered the competition in the best possible form, winning all but five of her twelve meets. Out of the five, she finished off the podium only twice, putting her in the best possible place going into Tokyo.

But the freak injury Caudery suffered during warm-up left her with bone bruising and ruptured ligaments, and she even had to be taken off the track in a wheelchair. That had adverse consequences on Caudery, forcing her into a mental block, something she had never had before.

It was mainly because the 26-year-old suffered the injury while performing her vault, which led to the yips. However, for Caudery, she compared it more to the “twisties” than to the yips, which are commonly associated with gymnasts.

“Mentally I’ve never struggled as much as I did,” Caudery told the Independent. “I was so lost. I was scared of pole vault, and I have never in my life been scared of pole vault.”

Because of that, the British pole vaulter sat out the start of the 2026 season and most of the indoor season, participating in only two meets before going to Torun.

“This year, because I’ve missed most of the indoor season, because of my injury, I’ve just been sat at home watching everyone compete,” she added. “And it’s like, it’s just building this fire in me. Of course, I just want to go there and do my best. But there’s definitely a fire simmering.”

That fire simmered to perfection as Caudery ended up walking away with her second World Indoors title. Now, unfortunately, the 26-year-old will have to sit and watch everyone else compete again. Hopefully, once again, it simmers a fire in her that will help her build up to the 2028 World Indoors and potentially the LA 2028 Olympics.