By Amy Tennery
PARIS (Reuters) -All went to plan for American Katie Moon as she kicked off her Olympic pole vault title defence in Paris on Monday, sailing over 4.55 metres in the opening stage of the competition at the Stade de France.
In the Tokyo final she needed three attempts to get over her opening height of 4.50 but showed no nerves as she cleared the bar by a significant margin and smiled serenely on her way down, booking her spot in Wednesday's medal round.
Moon shared the World Championships gold last year with Australia's Nina Kennedy, who had a similarly easy path through qualification, never knocking the bar down, three years after nagging injuries saw her crash out at the initial stage.
Greece's Katerina Stefanidi (4.55), who won in Rio, was also among the 20 competitors to progress, along with Slovenia's Tina Sutej (4.40), who is hungry to get on the podium after fourth-place finishes at the last two World Championships.
It was a tough morning for Britain as their gold medal hope Molly Caudery was unable to clear her opening height of 4.55 after setting a national record and world lead of 4.92 in June.
"Totally heartbreaking, so sorry for everyone at home. I'll try to learn from it. I felt great. I am in best shape of my life," the indoor champion said while crying. "I don't know what happened. I’ll talk to my coach."
Several of her competitors came to comfort the Briton after her third failed attempt at the height, while compatriot Holly Bradshaw, the Tokyo bronze medallist, was also sent packing when she could not get over 4.40.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Paris; Editing by Ken Ferris and Christian Radnedge)
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