A mother-of-six who returned to high jumping after a more than 20-year hiatus has come second place at an international competition in South Korea. Emily MacDonald gave up high jumping at 18 years old and returned to the sport five years ago.
The 45-year-old snapped her calf muscle but she didn't let the injury stop her from competing. In May, she discovered she was ranked number one for her age range and decided she needed to compete at the Masters Athletics Stadia Championships in Daegu.
Competing in Daegu
Emily, from Gosforth, but now lives in Stanley, County Durham, competed in the high jump 45-49 age group on Sunday and came second place. She also achieved a new personal best jump.
Emily, who is mum to Rachel, 18, Ben, 17, Juliette, 13, Alice, nine, Francesca, seven, and Sylvie, five, said: "The competition was the most prestigious and professional experience I've had with high jump so far! I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be there."
"The stadium had hosted the 2011 World Championships with Usain Bolt competing and it can hold 66,000 people. It was amazing to meet ten other women who were my age and also loved high jumping - it was like meeting my soul sisters from across the world!"
Personal best and shock
"I was aiming for a personal best of 1m50 which is the qualifying height for next years Island Games in The Faroes, but I totally aced 1m50 and then flew over 1m55 to my absolute shock! I didn't even clip the bar, I gave myself a little clap as I jumped off the landing mat and put my hands on my face in shock. I knew I had earned a medal and I was over the moon."
Emily juggles high jumping with being a single mum, working full-time as a probate researcher, volunteering as a high jump coach at Gateshead Harriers and playing as a goalkeeper for Whickham Fellgate Ladies.
Return to the sport
Emily first tried high jump in a PE lesson at Gosforth East Middle School when she was 11 years old and fell in love with it. She won the English School Championships when she was 16 and the GB under 20 championships when she was 18 years old.
Emily gave up the high jump when she was 18 years old as she had to work to support herself while living alone and it became too much for her to manage. She went on to have her children and spent her 30s as a carer to her former husband.
After giving birth to her youngest child Sylvie during the coronavirus pandemic, she decided she wanted to get fit again and returned to high jumping. She snapped her calf muscle and was told she would never be able to do the sport again.
However the following summer she was back high jumping. Emily competed in the V40 UK High Jump Championships in 2021 and was ranked 7th in the world. In May this year, she jumped a new personal best of 1m49 in her new 45 age group.
Nervous ahead of competition
Emily said she was nervous ahead of the competition in Korea as her hamstring tendon had played up the week before. She said: "Myself and Miyuki Fukumoto from Japan were the last two in the competition, all the other athletes were supporting by us both, feeding back info on our jumps and there was an immense feeling of community on the track."
"I felt pretty humbled to be jumping with Miyuki who was the defending world champion and was thrilled to come second to such an experienced jumper."
Emily now plans to "go for gold" at the World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships in Florida and the European Masters Athletics Championships in Finland next year as well as the World Masters Athletics Championships in Breda, Netherlands, in 2028.
