After winning the UK indoor title in Birmingham, the 26-year-old credits his fiancée Molly Caudery for helping him stay in the sport.
Just three years ago Joel Clarke-Khan seemingly had the world at his feet. He equaled his PB of 2.27m at the London Diamond League and hoped to compete in his first Olympic Games in Paris the following year.
But the disappointment of not being able to attend the Paris Games led him to almost abandon the sport. In fact, if it weren’t for the support of his fiancée, pole vaulter Molly Caudery, he says he would have simply given up.
After taking a break from competition in 2025, largely due to injury, he returned this month to win the UK indoor title. His mark of 2.19m took gold, although his best this season is 2.22m and he hopes to return to form at 2.27m, or better, this summer.
“It was a little stressful at first,” he says. “I know I’m in good shape but I was nervous about being here and coming back, I tried to do each jump a little better and when everything went well I did it with the jump that won me the gold medal.
“As far as the process goes, I’m very happy with my resilience and my ability to keep building. It wasn’t perfect, but we got the job done.”
Clarke-Khan competed in all three major championships in 2022: the World Championships in Eugene, the European Championships in Munich and the Commonwealth Championships in Birmingham, placing fifth in the latter.
But he says that in 2024 he lost his love for high jumping and even practiced long jumping briefly, before breaking a bone in his foot long jumping, an incident that partly led him to return to high jumping.
“After missing Paris, I wasn’t mentally well,” the 26-year-old explains. “There was no love between me and high jump. But I wanted to keep training, so I started training for long jump in 2025 and doing similar training to high jump, but with more focus on speed.
“In May I actually broke my foot doing the long jump off the take-off foot and after that I thought ‘if I’m going to continue, let’s fix this’. I got it fixed in August and transferred back to my old high jump coach (Deidre Elmhurst) and the process of coming back has been very smooth. I didn’t even think I’d be doing indoor sports let alone winning titles like this.”
He adds: “I tore my patella tendon in 2018, so I’ve had my fair share of injuries. Molly’s had some injuries too, but we’re in a home where we’re both athletes, we support each other, and we keep the faith alive.
“I’m happy I didn’t give up. Finally, for the first time in a few years, I feel like I’ve seen the light at the end of the tunnel and I can move on and be better than I thought I could be.”
Has it been difficult to watch from the sidelines as Caudery, the 2024 world indoor champion, has been consistently jumping at the highest level?
“In 2025 it was easier to follow her around the circuit because I was also out of the sport,” he says. “But it was difficult in 2024 because I was trying to do it myself while she was breaking the British record. But we are all on different paths and she supported me a lot and I have the feeling that if I hadn’t been with her, I might have left the sport.”
Clarke-Khan is also back with his old coach, Deidre Elmhurst, who travels to train with him several times a week at his base in Loughborough.
“I think we just clicked,” he added. “Everything we knew about each other before, the chemistry, is working very well.
“Everything is a plus right now and I’m very grateful,” he says. “I love my lifestyle, my routine and the people around me. I hope I can continue building and get back into the teams; that is my ultimate goal.
“If I get a call to be on a team, I don’t care where or when, it would mean a lot to me to wear that kit again. It’s been so long. I really want it and I think I can do it.”
