Emma Brentel

Happy birthday to France’s pole vaulter Emma Brentel, who has just had the best season of her career.

Emma cleared 4.45m indoors at Aubière in February at the French Elite Indoor Championships, a lifetime best, and in July at Moulins she cleared 4.37m outdoors, another lifetime best and seven centimetres better than anything she had done outdoors before. Between those two she won at Caen in January with 4.44m and at Dijon in May, and last weekend she was at the French Elite Championships in Albi clearing 4.35m. That is a full season at 4.35m and above, in the year she turns twenty-four.

Her Instagram bio lists three things and every one of them is a silver medal. The Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2018, where the pole vault was decided across two separate competitions and she finished second overall. The European U18 Championships in Győr the same summer, silver at 4.16m. The European U20 Championships in Tallinn in 2021, silver at 4.20m. Add the French U23 title, the French U20 title outdoors and indoors, the French U18 indoor title, and a Mediterranean U23 silver in Ismailia, and that is one of the more decorated age-group vaulting careers in France.

The nicest thing she has said about any of it is about Buenos Aires, and it is not about the medal. Asked for her favourite sporting memory, she talked about discovering an Olympic village, and about getting to go and cheer for the French basketball players and, above all, for the athletes who had travelled with her.

Joyeux anniversaire, Emma! Tous nos vœux les plus sincères, et que l’année qui vient te trouve encore plus haut sur la perche. 🎂🎁🎉🫶🫶🇫🇷