CORNWALL’S Molly Caudery played a starring role as Great Britain made history with a stunning golden surge at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland.

In an extraordinary 28-minute spell, GB claimed three gold medals to secure their most successful championships ever – and Truro-born Caudery was right at the centre of it.

The 26-year-old pole vaulter produced a superb performance to win gold, clearing 4.85m to stand alone at the top of the podium. Her victory came as part of a remarkable sequence, sandwiched between Georgia Hunter Bell’s 1500m triumph and Keely Hodgkinson’s dominant 800m win.

It capped a record-breaking championships for Britain, surpassing the previous best of three golds set in 1999, with Josh Kerr’s 3,000m victory the day before adding to the tally.

For Caudery, however, this was about far more than medals. The Cornish athlete has endured a difficult run since her breakthrough 2024 season. After a shock exit in Olympic qualifying in Paris, her hopes at the World Championships later that year were dashed by an ankle injury suffered in the warm-up – forcing her out before she could even compete.

Her road to recovery has been anything but smooth.

“Six weeks ago, I couldn’t even get off the ground,” Caudery said. “I was in a really dark place, so to come here and do this means more than anybody knows.

“After Paris, after Tokyo, after last year, it’s a big relief. It’s all about my team and everyone here supporting me. After each jump, I looked up and I could see the smiles on their faces.”

But in Poland, she delivered when it mattered most.

Competing in just her third event of the year, Caudery and Slovenia’s Tina Sutej matched one another throughout, but it was the Brit who triumphed, clearing 4.85m at the second attempt.