HOLLY Bradshaw believes the Commonwealth Games can no longer be considered the ‘easy option’ when it comes to winning a medal at a major championship.

The pole vaulter goes to Australia hoping to deliver but knows she will have to be on top of her game if she is to finish on top of the podium.

But the 26-year-old from Chorley, who will make her belated Games debut on the Gold Coast, is up to the challenge.

Bradshaw, who finished in fifth place at the Rio Olympics in 2016, will face stiff competition from bronze medal winner Eliza McCartney from New Zealand and Canadian duo, Anicka Newell and Alysha Newman - who was third in Glasgow four years ago.

And while reigning champion Alana Boyd, who was fourth in Rio, has since retired, she has been replaced by Aussie new kid on the block, Lisa Campbell.

“I’m going to the Gold Coast aiming for a medal, definitely,” said Bradshaw. “But I think the standard has actually flipped a little bit.

“The last two or three Commonwealth Games, 4.10m has won a medal which has always been quite a low standard while actually, the Olympic bronze medalist in Rio (McCartney) is in the same competition as me.

“There are also two Canadians who have jumped 4.70.

“So all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it has become a really strong event.

“When you think in Glasgow, it only took 3.80m to win a medal, I think to win a medal this time it is going to take 4.70m

“So it has changed dramatically. But I am definitely rooting for a medal.”

Bradshaw, who is based in Cardiff, missed the Glasgow Games due to injury while Delhi, four years earlier, came a little too early in her career.

“It’s funny,” she said. “I’ve been to two Olympics and two World Championships but due to timing and injury, I have never been to the Commonwealth Games and I am really looking forward to it.”

Bradshaw heads to Australia injury free for the first time ahead of a major championship - although she did withdraw from the recent World Indoor Championships as a precaution due to minor hamstring injury.

While she has yet to win a medal at any of the majors, she doesn’t want to put herself under any pressure to deliver the silverware.

“I am looking forward to winning medals but it is difficult when you say it is time to deliver because there are only ever three medals to be won and there are so many girls rooting for them,” said Bradshaw.

“So it is not as easy as ‘oh yeah, I want to win a medal’. Of course and I am doing everything I can and everything needs to happen at the right time and hopefully on the day I can be in the mix.”

Bradshaw was a sprinter and hurdler at Blackburn Harriers and only took up pole vaulting after helping her team earn extra points in the Northern League competition.

And she admits she is still learning about the sport.

“I am nowhere near perfect and I don’t think I ever will be,” she said. “So I think, every single week I learn something new. There is always scope for improvement in pole vault.

Blackburn Harriers is still very close to Bradshaw’s heart and she always keeps in contact when she is back in her native East Lancashire.

“I still keep in touch,” she said. “They are the reason I got in to the pole vault I owe them a lot.

“The facilities are great there now and I did actually use them in the run up to the last World Championships.

“They mean a lot to me, they are more like a family rather the a club. It’s really nice.”