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From heartbreak in Paris to fire in Nanjing, Molly Caudery insists she is ready to prove her Olympic nightmare will not be career defining. The reigning world indoor champion is the favourite to retain her pole vault title in China in the early hours of Saturday morning.

And her Olympics shock, when she failed to register a clean effort in qualifying despite being favourite for gold, is serving as a big motivation. Caudery said the days after were “like a grieving period” but she took herself home to Cornwall, spent time healing in the sea, and worked closely with a psychologist.

Understanding exactly what went wrong has been hard to put a finger on. “It was just a bad day to have a bad day,” she says. But the outcome has been channelling it into her future efforts.

“One thing I did get from Paris was an extra fire and extra desire for this year,” she adds. “And if that’s what I can take from it, that’s great.

“I took that into the winter and I’ve trained so hard and I’ve come out this year and there is that extra want in me and I think that’s a positive thing.

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“I don’t think it really was down to anything. Probably on average, I may no height once a year or most athletes may no height once a year, or once every two years.

“And mine just happened to be on the biggest competition of my life. Not ideal, but what can I do now? I think all I can do is learn from it and not let it happen again.”

The winter has been interrupted by a couple of hamstring and calf injuries but a leap of 4.85m in Madrid late last month has filled her with confidence. “It’s not been ideal,” she admits.

“It’s very minor but I’ve not been able to jump fully healthy. “That’s almost even more exciting because I’m still jumping well, off shorter approaches than I ever have.

“Jumping 4.85m in Madrid was probably among the best jumps I’ve ever done so that in itself is very exciting, knowing I’ve been doing that with slight injury. Now I’m fully healthy, that’s great.”

The entire Paris podium is absent in Nanjing to leave Caudery, once again, as the big favourite to triumph. Switzerland’s Angelique Moser looks the biggest threat, beyond another injury, and Caudery adds: “There’s been quite a lot of talk around it because there’s a few girls that aren’t coming.

“But it’s still going to be a really great competition. I just know I need to jump the best I can. If I was to jump 5m and not win, I’m not going to be disappointed. But I think it’s just, go out there, trust in my abilities, trust that I’ve had a good winter’s training, and take each bar as it comes and see what I can do.”