Parents are 'super proud' of World Champion Cornish pole vaulter Molly Caudery

The parents of a Cornish pole vaulter say they are "bursting" with pride and "dreaming" of an Olympic medal after their daughter was crowned World Champion.

Molly Caudery, 23, won the World Indoor Championships title in Glasgow on Saturday 2 March after clearing 4.80 metres.

The Truro-born athlete finished fifth in the World Championships in Budapest last year and picked up a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham 2022.

Her mum Barbara says her most recent achievement is taking a while to digest.

"Molly is just our little girl"

She said: “It hasn’t quite sunk in yet I don’t think. Molly’s always just been our little girl and to think of her as world champion. It might take a little while to adjust to that. We’re very, very, very proud.

“We really hoped she’d win and anything would’ve been amazing but becoming world champion put the icing on the cake.

“Our phones have not stopped pinging, it’s been crazy. Everyone’s sending lovely wishes and can’t really believe that Cornwall has got its own world champion.

“Both our parents in their little villages and all their friends watching and everyone’s behind her and it’s all a little bit mad.

“Molly is just our little girl and that’s still what she is to us. She might be a world champion but it hasn’t changed her at all.

“She’s really humble with it and enjoying every moment, all the lovely comments, and all the support people have given her - she’s really taken it in and appreciating it, and loving flying the flag for Cornwall.

“I don’t think it’s really sunk in with her or us properly and she’s like ‘wow, I’ve just woke up a world champion’.

"An amazing feeling"

Her dad, Stuart, was her coach up until the age of 18 before Molly left to train in the United States but said he is “super proud” of her achievements.

He said: “We all kind of dreamed it a little bit and thought she went into it being favourite, we thought she could win it but we just hoped for a medal.

“We thought she probably could get one because she’s jumped 4.80m so many times this year so we knew that likely put her in medal position.

“We’re extremely proud, we’re bursting. I don’t know how else to explain it. I’ve always been super proud but it’s just an amazing feeling that our daughter is a world champion.

“I put it on my social media that I’m the dad of a world champion - I’m not sure what I meant by it, I just put it."

"Dreaming" of an Olympic Gold

Molly became the youngest member of England’s athletics setup to feature in the Commonwealth Games in 2018 when she was just 18 years old.

She suffered a freak accident which required multiple surgeries on her finger, but has enjoyed an injury-free winter period.

Having claimed the World Championship title, the expectation is now building on Molly to clinch an Olympic medal in Paris 2024.

Barbara, speaking to Stuart, said: “You believed in her the whole time and you said ‘she’s going to be a world champion one day, she’s going to win the Olympics one day’.

“Now I’m starting to believe it too, she’s already a world champion. It’s pretty special, she’s definitely got the determination, the drive, and the work ethic.”

“Everything this year has happened a lot quicker than it should have. Her and her coach have goals and she’s having to reset them now because she’s already met them all.

“Her achievements just keep getting better and better.”

Stuart said: “We’re definitely excited, we talk about it quite a lot. We had a 10-hour journey home from Glasgow and we probably spoke about it [the Olympics] for nine hours.

“Molly’s been saying all the time she’s going to keep on training, stay level-headed, do everything she needs to do.

“If on the day she jumps like she knows she can then she stands a chance of a medal and she could be an Olympic champion.

“We’re all dreaming of it.”