It's a Molly good effort at the European Championships... but pole vault favourite Caudery is forced to settle for bronze as she looks to make history in Paris

It was the night the new generation took centre stage in the ancient city of Rome. But while Charlie Dobson came of age with a 400metres silver medal, Britain’s big hope Molly Caudery was left bemoaning bronze in the pole vault.

Caudery was the overwhelming favourite to be crowned queen of the continent on Monday night, such is how she has raised the bar and raised expectations this year. Yet the 24-year-old, who admitted last week she still suffered with ‘imposter syndrome’, was not her usual self at the Stadio Olimpico.

Her highest jump of 4.73m was way down on her personal best of 4.86m from earlier this year. And it meant the world indoor champion could only finish third behind Switzerland’s Angelica Moser and Aikaterini Stefanidi of Greece.

‘I am a little bit disappointed in myself,’ admitted Caudery. ‘I would have liked a higher height. If I told myself a year ago I would be a bronze medallist at the European Championships, I would have been over the moon. But I’ve got these new expectations of myself and I think other people do as well.

‘Once it all settles in and I get time to reflect, I’ll be better than I’m feeling right now. The medal will still be up on my little shrine, but it just may not be at the very centre.’

Caudery had started confidently, opening with the highest bar of any athlete – 4.58m – which she sailed over first time. But the warning signs were there when she took two attempts to clear both 4.68m and 4.73m, before she failed with one go at 4.78m and two at 4.83m.

Having arrived in Rome with eight wins from 10 events this year, this result was a reality check for Caudery ahead of the bigger prize in Paris in two months’ time. There, she is bidding to become Britain’s first female field Olympic champion since Tessa Sanderson in the javelin 40 years ago.

‘It was a little bit of a learning curve for me and that’s a good thing,’ added Caudery. ‘It just shows that not everything goes to plan all the time.

‘It’s not really the one that matters this year. It’s all good preparation or Paris. There is more fire in the belly.’

Another 24-year-old who will now be fired up for Paris is Dobson following his breakthrough first major individual medal.

The Colchester runner has a degree in aeronautical engineering and he flew round one lap of the track to clock a personal best of 44.38sec. It was not enough for him to beat the inspired Belgian Alexander Doom, who also smashed his lifetime best with a time of 44.15sec.

But it was still a remarkable performance given Dobson has mainly competed over 200m so far in his career.

The man who saw his potential as a 400m runner was Iwan Thomas, the former European champion, who tipped the ‘Ginger Ninja’ to break his then long-standing British record two years ago.

Dobson first underlined his potential over one lap with a personal best of 44.46sec last month. And by running even faster here in Rome, he has put himself in the mix for medals in Paris.

‘I couldn’t be happier with that,’ said Dobson. ‘The 400m was not an event that I was planning to do. I hoped I’d never do the 400 as it’s a pretty tough event!

‘But I picked it up during Covid as a bit of fun and my coach and I decided to take it seriously this year. It is paying off so far.

‘Everyone wants to be an Olympian at some point in their lives. There's one more hurdle to get over but fingers crossed.’

On Tuesday, Eilish McColgan makes her first return to the international arena since the European Championships two years ago, when she won 10,000m silver and 5,000m bronze.

By her own typically blunt admission, the Scot has had a ‘really s*** year’. A knee injury has ruled her out of running, but she has also had to deal with the sudden death of her stepfather John Nuttall in November, then the passing of her grandmother Betty last month.

As inspiration during the 10,000m final, McColgan will wear a bracelet gifted to her by her granny. ‘It is a little source of strength,’ said the 30-year-old, who has tipped her team-mate Megan Keith to win her race.