LEONGATHA’S prolific international medal winner, Eleanor Patterson, has narrowly missed out on claiming the bronze at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
Jumping inn appalling conditions with constant delays for rain, Eleanor cleared a heigh of 1.97m, equal with Ukrainian
Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Serbian Angelina Topic but out of the medals on a countback.
She finishes 5th after making the final inn another world championships.
Her Aussie teammate, Nicola Olyslagers, claimed the gold with a clearance of 2m also on a countback from Poland’s Maria Zodzik who won the silver.
Speaking afterwards to the ABC’s Simon Smale, Eleanor Patterson was philosophical and typically generous in her assessment of the competition.
"If I had one clearance a little bit earlier it would have been incredible," she said.
"But that's the nature of our sport.
"I feel like I'm ready to jump high and I just didn't bring it today."
She may not have won a medal, but she was able to share a special moment regardless.
"I was very proud that I was able to be a part of a moment with Angelina Topic," Patterson said.
"She had half-an-hour to wait to see if she had a bronze medal.
"She was quite overwhelmed. She wasn't sure if she was able to retain that bronze medal.
"That was a beautiful moment for me.
"In some way I was happy I didn't jump two metres, and I was able to share that moment with her.
"There's so much beauty, even in failure,” she said.
Gippsland South MP Danny O’Brien was one of the first to jump on social media and congratulate Eleanor for doing the region proud at the highest level, while also congratulating Nicola.
