French pole vaulter Margot Chevrier suffered a broken ankle in shocking scenes while competing at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow over the weekend. 

Chevrier pulled out of her vault attempt before falling off the pole and missing the mat. She suffered a serious leg injury and had to be taken away from the landing area on a stretcher before being transported to the hospital. 

She posted an image from her hospital bed on Instagram confirming she’ll need two operations on the ankle, putting her hopes of jumping at the Paris Olympics in doubt. 

“It will take what it takes. I will be there,” she posted in regards to competing at a home Olympics in July-August. 

Kiwi Eliza McCartney soared high to take silver following the delay. 

“It was just so awful for that to happen to someone,” McCartney said of Chevrier’s injury. 

“It’s not that common, and for it to happen in a championship ... poor Margot. I don’t even know what to say, to be honest. But this is what happens sometimes in sport and you have to stay in the game. You’ve got to stay calm and collected and get yourself back to a place where you can jump.” 

“Yes, the delay was hard, but [I was] just training with the other girls and trying to stay positive. When she was wheeled off she looked okay, so we could just get back into it. It’s tough having that happen, but you’ve just got to stay in the zone, and I just got back into the fact I was jumping and enjoying it and just tried to stick with that. 

“I hope she’s recovering well and that all is well, but that’s not great, obviously.” 

McCartney opened her competition with a comfortable first-time clearance at 4.55m before suffering a minor mishap at 4.65m, striking the bar in her first effort before rediscovering her co-ordinates to fly clear with her second crack — some 18.7cm over the bar, according to World Athletics stats.