Hurling themselves in the air has never been a foreign concept for New Zealand's two Birmingham-bound pole vaulters.
Pole vaulters Imogen Ayris (left) and Olivia McTaggart. Photo: RNZ
Olivia McTaggart will be making her second Commonwealth Games appearance later this month and will be joined by her Auckland-based training partner Imogen Ayris.
McTaggart was a serious gymnast before she tried pole vaulting when she was 14.
"From the age of four all the way through to 14, that pretty much took up my whole time. I was training more hours in gymnastics than and I am right now so that was my main thing until pole vaulting," McTaggart said.
Ayris' first love was also gymnastics. The two actually trained together at the same club and were seriously good at it too.
They say their gymnastics backgrounds helped them with their transition into pole vaulting.
"I think that's what gave both Imogen and I that little bit of an upper hand and we made quite rapid progress because we already had that strength, speed, and agility," McTaggart said.
The 22-year-old refers to 'gymnastic awareness'.
"So being aware of that bar when it came to pole vaulting. And you're just used to being hurled in the air and feeling weightless.
"The sports are very similar and now we're seeing quite a few other gymnasts coming into the sport and get on a similar path to what we did."
Olivia McTaggart came from a gymnastics background. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
McTaggart had to give up gymnastics after going through three stress fractures in her back.
"Imogen had a stress fracture too at one point, it's very common in the sport to have stress fractures.
"Once I got an MRI scan I was told that I could pretty much never do gymnastics again, given how severe the stress fractures were. So that's what forced me to quit, I didn't choose to."
McTaggart said it was pretty devastating at the time.
"Gymnastics is something that pretty much becomes your whole life. I was always that girl that did gymnastics and it became my identity.
"So I was like, who am I? What am I going to do next? I had a lot of dreams and goals as a kid of going to the Olympics so it was just figuring out what other sport that would be and that fell quite nicely into pole vaulting."
Ayris joined her local athletics club when she was six and did a bit of everything from sprinting and hurdles to high jump.
Pole vaulter Imogen Ayris Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
But it wasn't until her first year of high school when she did really well at her first North Island secondary schools' competition that she thought she should change direction.
"I wasn't able to train for it properly because of the amount of time I was spending training for gymnastics. I got back from that trip and it just flicked a switch and I decided I wanted to do athletics from that point so I focused purely on that," Ayris said.
Ayris soon went along to a pole vaulting session and has never looked back.
"I just had so much fun and I picked it up really quickly as a result of my gymnastics and athletics background."
But how do you get to the point where you are comfortable hurling yourself in the air with a pole?
"You barely bend a pole in your first session, you learn how to hold it first and then you start by just stepping over and landing on your feet.
"Then you swing to your bum, then you swing to your back. Then the coach puts a low bungee up and just says 'do whatever you can to get over that,' which teaches you to get upside down."
The 21-year-old already knew what hard work was having spent about 20 hours a week training for gymnastics.
Not for the faint-hearted
It's obvious McTaggart gets a lot of enjoyment out of sports that generate an adrenaline rush.
"I think that's why going from gymnastics where you're a kid and you have no fear, and you're flinging yourself around, then transitioning into pole vaulting where it can be scary made sense, but I love that thrill of it.
"I'm bit of a thrill seeker, a bit of a daredevil, I guess both of us are and I think that's what keeps the sport really exciting. Having that slight bit of risk being upside down, putting yourself in the air four and a half metres is one of the reasons why I really love it along with all the technical aspects as well."
McTaggart said she had changed how she viewed nerves.
"I've realised that nerves are really good and if I'm not feeling nervous, I feel like something's a little bit off. So I try to use that to get excited and have that adrenaline because I'm a competitor so those nerves are helping me at every competition."
Pole vaulting is a popular event which can attract big crowds and that suits McTaggart.
"I may be a little bit of a show-off so I love it when we get a crowd because back home in New Zealand, we don't get much of that.
"And this year, especially coming out of Covid and being able to be in a full stadium, I'm just itching to get out there and feed off that energy. I think that's what makes me compete really well, I don't get thrown off by it. If anything, it makes me compete better."
Olivia McTaggart Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Olivia's older brother Cameron McTaggart will be competing in weightlifting in Birmingham - the second time the siblings will be at a Commonwealth Games together.
You only have to look to their father to understand where the sporting genes come from. John McTaggart is a national champ in barefoot water-skiing.
Ayris said flinging herself in the air never got old.
"I think it will always be fun for me. I don't know if I'll ever lose that from the sport, which is quite different from most sports," Ayris said.
"From my perspective, you've got other athletics events where you just run around in circles. It seems quite boring, but I get to swing myself upside down in the air, which is pretty awesome.
"That feeling of going over and clearing the bar is just unmatched really."
There's the potential for a lot to go wrong in the space of the few seconds it takes from the start of a run up to the landing.
"Even at that top level, you've got some crazy crashes that happen. I think because we do it so often it's just muscle memory at this point.
"Sometimes you can move up onto a stiffer pole and you're not quite used to that and you freak out a bit and that's where you can get spat back onto the track and pole snaps can happen.
"But a lot of those are kind of out of your control so it's just about being on the track and controlling what you can control and doing what you know how to do."
Where they belong
McTaggart finished ninth on the Gold Coast where team-mate Eliza McCartney was the headline act and came away with a silver medal.
She's been in great form in 2022, setting a PB of 4.65m when regaining the New Zealand senior pole vault title in March.
McTaggart then had the best senior international performance of her career when she finished sixth at the World Indoor Champs in Belgrade with a best jump of 4.60m.
"It's definitely been my best season yet, which has been awesome to see all of the I think mental training, as well as physical training that goes into it," McTaggart said.
"I'm feeling really good, I'm excited. I'm putting it out there that I would really like to be standing on top of that podium, whatever colour that may be. I think that's a reality of what I'm capable of this year, as long as I keep tracking the way I am."
The powerful Imogen Ayris tries to get the most out of her run up. Photo: David Rowland
The New Zealand team selected for Birmingham includes 233 athletes, from 19 sports and two Para-sports.
At 54 percent the female portion of the team ranks as the highest female representation in New Zealand Commonwealth or Olympic history.
Ayris, who boasts a personal best of 4.50m, is excited about heading to her first Commonwealth Games.
"Even before I was a pole vaulter it was always a dream to go to Olympics and Commonwealth Games. To actually have it happened and to be named in the New Zealand team along with some incredible athletes is so special."
The pair are coached by Jeremy McColl and Ayris said while it was an individual sport it felt very much like a team sport.
"We spend a lot of time training and travelling as a group and we all share pretty much one coach. And especially Olivia and I compete together, we stay together. We're all very close and it's a tight knit community."
McTaggart said the pole vaulting community in Auckland was strong, with about 15 to 20 athletes of varying ages and abilities now part of a growing stable.
"Internationally, it's one of those sports where there is a lot of camaraderie because you're in a sport where it's you against the bar, you're not trying to race the other person.
"There's always going to be competition and rivalry within that but I think all in all everyone's there for each other and supportive and we're able to build a good community.
"This year, I'm really excited to be up there with the best of the best and actually feel like I belong there as well."
The Games run from July 28 to August 8.
-RNZ
