Mystery illness, injuries and Lorde: Eliza McCartney's troubled but brilliant career

Eliza McCartney shot to fame when she took out a surprise bronze medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016. At the time it seemed like the Kiwi pole vaulter was destined to set the athletics world on fire, and she did – for a time.

Unfortunately, the years following Rio have not been kind to McCartney. Let's take a look at what went wrong and where she finds herself now.

McCartney was born on December 11, 1996, in Auckland, New Zealand. She grew up in the seaside suburb of Devonport and developed an interest in sports from a very young age, largely thanks to her parents William McCartney and Donna Marshall, who were both former athletes themselves. 

McCartney attended Belmont Intermediate School and Takapuna Grammar School and played a few different sports during this time. Like many Kiwi girls, she developed a love for netball, which she would play alongside singer-songwriter Lorde. The singer even congratulated her for her jump in Rio. 

She would also enjoy athletics, initially focusing on high jump but she switched to pole vaulting in 20111. Seeing her potential in this, coach Jeremy McColl encouraged her to train more intensively; a move that would pay dividends as McCartney would win the national youth title and the New Zealand secondary school championship just one year later in 2012.

McCartney’s career reached a high point at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where she won the bronze medal in pole vault with a jump of 4.0m, becoming only the fourth New Zealander to win an Olympic medal in a field event. Aged 19 years and 252 days at the time, it also made her the youngest-ever women's pole vault medallist ever. 

Following the Olympics, McCartney would continue to improve her jumps at various competitions around the world. In June 2018, she set a new New Zealand and Oceania record with a record jump of 4.92m. In July she would reach 4.94m, breaking her previous record and claiming the number vault in the world in 2018. It seemed she was destined to hit the golden 5m mark soon. The world record is 5.06m, set by Yelena Isinbayeva in 2009. 

But McCartney would face a major setback later in the year as she would suffer a debilitating Achilles injury that left her unable to walk properly.

She would battle through this over the coming years to make it to some competitions in 2019 and 2021, but struggled to find her previous form. Her Achilles tendinopathy, which she believes is attributed to an autoimmune disorder but has been difficult to formally diagnose, wreaked havoc on her ability to train as well as conduct normal day-to-day activities.

She told Stuff.co.nz in 2021 that the injury was not just isolated to her Achilles, but had spread to her lower right leg as well, rendering her unable to compete in the Tokyo Olympics.

Despite the setbacks, she was determined to regain her form and become an international competitor once again. “The last time I was on top of my game was probably the middle of 2018. It’s been quite a long time now. It’s why the No 1 priority is the long game – making sure I can get back vaulting, and vaulting consistently," she told Stuff in 2021.

In 2022, she underwent what she called a 'biomechanical reset' in order to overcome the injury issues that had hampered her career. This would involve her learning how to walk and run in a different way to counteract the issues going on in her right leg.

The program facilitated by trainer Matt Dallow seemed to work and McCartney would be competing again in January 2023 at the Potts Classic, recording a jump of 4.36m – a step in the right direction.

“It’s exciting to feel much more in control of the situation again, and feel this isn’t a lost cause, that it is salvageable," she told Stuff.co.nz at the time. Everybody wholeheartedly agreed that there are many reasons to think this will work and it’s completely worth doing again, and it’s not some sort of fantasy."

Proving that it wasn't a lost cause, On 7 July 2023, she cleared 4.73m at the Miting meet in Barcelona, securing her spot at the Paris Olympics in 2024 and setting a new meeting record in the process. A sensational comeback for one of the best pole vaulters in the world.

Things got even better for the now 26-year-old on July 31, as she recorded a jump of 4.85m – her best height in four and a half years – to win the CAS International in Luxembourg. “I’m happy to hit a season’s best and be back in the 4.80s again and to be jumping in the 80s again" she told Stuff at the time.

Though things seem to be on the upswing for McCartney, just one month later in August 2023, a flare-up of her injury saw her stumble at the World Championships in Budapest, failing to record a height.

"Obviously it is not a good night. A couple of weeks ago I had a flare up with my Achilles. It has been on and off during the year and unfortunately it happened right before World Champs. I pulled up short. It was just too much tonight and that can, unfortunately, happen in sport," she told Radio New Zealand.

While it's clear that McCartney has the sheer natural talent, ability, and above all determination to be among the best in the world, her injury issues continue to put the handbrake on what could be a stellar career.

But who knows what could happen if she is able to enjoy a clear run leading up to the 2024 Olympics? Watch this space.