“Pole vaulting is not just my job - it’s my livelihood and all I know. To have that forcefully taken away from me, I was keen to do what I could to bring that back.”
The Devonport athlete’s premature 2016 Olympic success at the age of 19, combined with her bright and open personality, made her a huge Kiwi star.
But the surprisingly early injury hurdles almost stopped a glittering career in its tracks. It meant she didn’t even make the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021.
But now, the reboot is working a treat.
McCartney won an event in Luxembourg last month with a height of 4.85 metres - her best in over four years and 5cm above her Olympic mark.
That put her second in the world on 2023 performances, behind American Katie Moon (4.9m), and McCartney is ranked 10th in the world overall.
Yet it was not so long ago that she was contemplating retirement, with hamstring and Achilles injuries on the verge of wrecking her career.
“When I didn’t qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, I had a big review, trying to ascertain whether it was worth trying to continue as an elite athlete, or whether the time had come, that my body couldn’t handle it anymore,” she said.
“The neat thing is the review suggested there was absolutely opportunity there but it required making radical changes.
“I’d been pole vaulting since I was 13 in a similar way the whole time - it was a massive change to bring in a new coach, change the way I move, train, jump. All these things.
“It took a year to change the biomechanics because they were set in stone. And it coincided with the Commonwealth Games, which was really disappointing.
“It was the only option so it was easy in that respect. But it was incredibly difficult actually.”
McCartney said the new technique was “a bit nicer on the body, to put it simply”.
“I haven’t reverted to my old running, I’m on bigger poles so I’m quite a bit faster,” she said.
Major meetings were an on-the-day business in her eyes, but she is clearly among the group contending for the world title.
As an individual athlete, McCartney enjoys being part of a national camp but she regularly trains with fellow pole vaulters Imogen Ayris and Olivia McTaggart anyway.
“I’ve trained with those girls for many years, and it’s amazing that we are at the same level, tripping around Europe and competing together,” she said.
“We’ve got the same coach and similar support team - it’s not too different from our normal training.
“We can help each other out but you’ve also got to give people their space to prepare.”
On her own future, McCartney said pole vaulters tended to peak in their late 20s, and could compete into their 30s.
But it is also clear that the injury nightmare she endured is not far from her thinking.
“It’s a guess - with my body, I’ve got no idea,” she said.
“The fact that it’s working right now, I’ll keep riding that wave. I’m relatively young but I’ve been vaulting half my life, which is quite an old athlete’s age, and there is only so much the body can tolerate.
“It might become apparent that I’ve reached my max.”
