Isobel Pooley


Isobel Pooley is a former British track and field athlete who specialises in the high jump. She won a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Career

Pooley's first high jump was in the gymnasium at Court Moor School.
As a teenager, Pooley competed at both the World Junior Championships and European Junior Championships, failing to reach the final. In 2012, she improved her best from 1.86m, first to 1.88 m indoors then to 1.90m, which she cleared at the Bedford Games in June. She competed at that years European Championships in Helsinki, where she was eliminated in the qualifying round with a best of 1.78m. In July 2013, she finished fourth in the final at the European Under 23 Championships in Tampere, clearing 1.90m. A month later, she improved her personal best to 1.91m.
Pooley had the best season of her career to date in 2014. In June, she equalled her personal best of 1.91m, before going on to win the UK Championships later the same month with 1.90m. Then in August, she won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, with a new best of 1.92m. Three weeks later, she broke the UK outdoor record, when she improved her best by 4 cm to 1.96m in Eberstadt, Germany. The previous UK record of 1.95m had first been set by Diana Davies in 1982. It was then equalled in 2001 by Susan Moncrieff and again in 2007 by Olympic Heptathlon Champion Jessica Ennis, before Pooley finally surpassed it. The record was one of the longest standing UK outdoor field event records, with only the women's discus record and the men 800m record which have both stood since 1981, being older.
Pooley graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2014.
Pooley also undertook the Macmillan "Brave the Shave" charity challenge by having her head shaved in August 2016.
She announced her retirement in September 2017, at the age of 24.

International competitions

Note: Results with a q, indicate overall position in qualifying round.

National titles