Sally Peake (born 8 February 1986) is a British track and field athlete who specialises in the pole vault. She has a personal best of 4.40 m (14 ft 5 in) for the event, which is a Welsh record. She was the silver medallist in the pole vault at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Born in Chester, Peake initially competed in gymnastics but gave up the sport in favour of track and field as she grew older.[2][3] She joined Liverpool Harriers and focused on triple jump and long jump during her early years at the club. She was the 2005 Welsh junior champion in the triple jump and then won the 2006 Welsh indoor title in a personal best of 12.28 m (40 ft 3+1⁄4 in). She struggled to progress in the events and took up pole vaulting at the end of 2008.[4] In 2007, she graduated from Cardiff University with a first-class honours science degree and continued to specialise in physiotherapy.[1] The 2009 season marked her first full year of pole vault competition and she set a best of 3.60 m (11 ft 9+1⁄2 in). She cleared four metres for the first time in June 2010, reaching a height of 4.10 m (13 ft 5+1⁄4 in) in Cardiff. This gained her selection for the Welsh team for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and at the event in New Delhi she placed ninth with a mark of 3.95 m (12 ft 11+1⁄2 in).[4] she has a personal best of 4.40m in pole vault
In 2011, she moved to Loughborough to be closer to her coach Scott Simpson.[1] That year she placed third at the UK Athletics Indoor Championships and won the Welsh outdoor title with a vault of 4.30 m (14 ft 1+1⁄4 in). She narrowly missed the podium with a fourth-place finish at the British Athletics Championships. Peake matched that finish on her international debut at the Universiade in Shenzhen, clearing a new best of 4.35 m (14 ft 3+1⁄4 in) in the final. With her sights on a place at the 2012 London Olympics, she signed up with Birchfield Harriers andcontinued to improve the following year, achieving a height of 4.42 m (14 ft 6 in) on the Perche Élite Tour in February. She retained her Welsh title and was runner-up at the British Olympic trials (behind Holly Bleasdale),[4] but did not achieve the qualifying "A" standard, which was set at four and a half metres.[5] Her senior debut at the 2012 European Athletics Championships followed and she competed in the qualifying only.[4]
The peak of her 2013 season was a win at the British Athletics Championships where—in the absence of Bleasdale—she won with a height of 4.23 m (13 ft 10+1⁄2 in).[4] She also competed at her first IAAF Diamond League event, vaulting at the London Anniversary Games and placing eighth.[6] She did not compete internationally that year.[4] She placed third at the 2014 British Indoor Championships before going on to win the British outdoor title for a second year running.[7][8] She was beaten by Northern Ireland's Zoe Brown at the Welsh Open Championships,[9] but was still selected for Wales at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Immediately prior to the competition, she set an outdoor best of 4.40 m (14 ft 5 in) at the Glasgow Grand Prix test event. At the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow she won her first international medal, clearing 4.25 m (13 ft 11+1⁄4 in) in very wet conditions to take the silver medal for Wales.[10]
