Daily Times

French pole vaulter Marie-Julie Bonnin comfortably cleared 4.75 metres to dethrone Britain’s Molly Caudery and win gold at the world indoor championships on Saturday.

Bonnin, who won bronze at the European indoors earlier this month, equalled compatriot Ninon Guillon-Romarin’s French national record with her performance at Nanjing’s Cube. Her two attempts to clear 4.80m did not prove successful but the 23-year-old was all smiles as she celebrated with Slovenia’s Tina Sutej, who claimed the silver with 4.70m, and Switzerland’s Angelica Moser, who took bronze with a similar effort.

“I cannot believe it. It’s like a dream. I feel like we were there for a medal, but not the gold,” Bonnin said. “The medal last week was so relieving. I came here knowing nobody will be upset if I don’t do something good here. I was jumping like it was a meet, not a championships. “It helped me a lot.” Caudery, the champion in Glasgow last year, was fourth. In the men’s event in the evening session, Sweden’s Armand Duplantis, who cleared 6.27m to break world record for an 11th time in Clermont-Ferrand last month, will look to continue his domination The session will also feature the finals of the men’s and women’s 3,000m and 400m events, women’s triple jump, men’s 60m hurdles and women’s 60m.