HAD you offered Holly Bradshaw a best-ever finish at an Olympic Games in the months before Rio she would have bitten your hand off.

But after achieving just that by securing fifth in Rio’s pole vault final last night, the Blackburn Harrier admits there is still a lingering feeling of regret.

Bradshaw’s injury rap sheet reads longer than the pole she uses to vault with – a serious back injury in 2013 seeing her miss 18 months of action, only returning for the World Championships last year.

But despite a seventh-place finish in Beijing, injury setbacks in 2016 had meant the road to Rio wasn’t as smooth as the 24-year-old would have liked.

A best clearance of 4.70m represented a season’s best at the Olympic Stadium but three failures at 4.80 saw her miss out on the medals.

And having come so close, Bradshaw admits the competitor inside of her demanded more.

“Fifth in the Olympic Games, I am really happy with that and it is a step up from the last Olympics that I was at,” she said.

“I’m an ultimate competitor so I am always going to be disappointed whatever happens but I jumped a season’s best and I was so close to 4.80.

“I am just a little bit too inconsistent with the top girls in the worlds at the minute. To finish fifth is amazing and I am so happy with that, but I just need a year where I don’t have any injuries.

“I had another injury this year which has set me back. If the Olympics had been in another maybe four months I might have done better.

“I had an injury in March and it set me back quite a bit but I just carried on going like I always do when I get an injury.

“And I know deep down that when I don’t have an injury I’ll be able to jump 80, 90 and mix it with the top girls, but I am just not good enough at the minute.

“I had fun, it’s another Olympic final and above sixth place so I’m happy.”

Greece’s Ekaterini Stefanidi took gold on countback after clearing 4.85m, with Sandi Morris of the USA in silver and New Zealand’s Eliza McCartney winning bronze.

A mark of 4.70 was good enough for a medal at London 2012, and despite jumping better and still missing out on a podium finish in 2016, Bradshaw is adamant she is capable of much higher should she have an injury-free season.

“There are lots of positives and there are glimpses that show me I can jump 95 maybe,” she added.

“I have to take confidence form that, get back in training and come back next year with no injuries.”

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