NEW name, new resolve and new hope - Holly Bradshaw has had a week to remember after many months to forget.

Aside from getting married, it’s been a miserable 16 months for the 23-year old Blackburn Harriers pole vaulter, nee Bleasdale.

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After making the Olympic final at London 2012 she vowed ‘by Rio I’ll be at the top of my game’, only to then experience the lows that life as an elite athlete can bring.

She didn’t compete at all in 2013 due to a back injury and last season made a reappearance at the World Indoor Championships, only to suffer a recurrence of the same injury.

She’d been off the track for nearly 70 weeks when she won the Welsh Championships and this weekend reclaimed her national title for the first time since 2012.

Her winning height at the Sainsbury’s British Championships in Birmingham, which doubled up as trials for next month’s World Championships in China, was 4.50 metres.

That was well down on her 4.87m personal best, but it secured all important selection for Beijing.

“I’m a little bit disappointed with the height and I would like to be jumping a little bit higher than I did but I am still getting back into it,” said Bradshaw. “I think I just need a little bit more time but I am really happy to just be here and to win another British title.

“There are still some technical issues that I need to sort out but hopefully they will click in the next few weeks and I’ll be ready for Beijing.

“I think it’s just about getting competitions under my belt, I haven’t done that many vaults so the more I will do it the easier it will get. I’ve just got to give it time and be patient.”

Despite barely competing last year, Bradshaw still finished the season ranked third in the world with a best of 4.73m.

Greece’s Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou currently leads the world rankings ahead of American Jennifer Suhr but should Bradshaw get anywhere near her personal best, a medal in Beijing is achievable.

“Things need tweaking but I’ve got plenty of time before the World Championships and Rio so hopefully things will start to come together soon,” she added.

“It was really important to win the title and add to my British Athletics medals – they are all out on a shelf at home and it’s really killed me over the last couple of years not to compete here.”

There was a comfortable victory for Burnley’s Sophie Hitchon in the hammer, as she set a new championship record of 71.10m.

Fellow Blackburn Harriers athlete Alison Leonard finished third in the 800m behind Lynsey Sharp and Shelayna Oskan-Clarke.

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