Despite taking her biggest stride in years, pole vaulter Eliza McCartney's determined to keep taking small steps to the Paris Olympics, while riding a wave of confidence.
The 2016 Rio bronze medallist has struggled to train, let alone compete, in recent years, but has put all of that behind her to qualify for next year's Games.
As she soared over the bar at Barcelona, McCartney let her emotions fly.
“When I hit the mat, I just stayed there," She told Newshub from Marseille. "I didn't move and just screamed for quite some time."
While it was McCartney’s first outing within the qualifying period, which began July 1, it was by no means straightforward.
"It's got a lot harder to travel around Europe, because fewer and fewer airlines are taking poles," she said. "Some airports won't take poles and then on top of that, travel's just difficult still.
"We had some issues at the meet. There was a misunderstanding, which I honestly think was no-one's fault in particular, but our poles didn’t turn up for the competition, so we had to arrange things last minute to get them there.
"A very, very kind person and a son managed to drive our poles over for us, so they turned up after the competition started," she revealed to Newshub.
"That just took the pressure off even more on that and it helps me, but perhaps at the Olympics, it wouldn't take the pressure off - it would be added."
While McCartney, 26, still needs to be put forward by the NZOC for Paris, just qualifying seems a world away from what she's been through.
Her struggles are well-known. Her last few years have been riddled with illness and injury, prompting fears she may never vault again, but for the first time in a long time, everything is clicking.
Confidence is rapidly building - changes to her team have helped with that.
“From all of the work that I've been doing over the last 18 months, I realised that there was a number of kind of minor traumas, I guess... things that are really at the time that you work for, and you get through it and it's fine, and you're OK.
"Obviously, I'm healthy, I'm alive, my family's good. They're not big traumas, but over time, there was a lot of them, and I think it really degraded my self-belief and my confidence.
"That's contributing, we think, to a lot of the symptoms that I can still get. It seems to be quite neurally driven and potentially, when my central nervous system gets really heightened and I get really stressed, I think it just sets things off a little bit.
"We’re still working away at the same things, but it's a real positive, confident environment and I know I completely believe in my ability as well. It's just it's really enjoyable and, for me, enjoyment is probably the most important part for me.
"I've got a really sound environment, where it's fun, and everyone's committed and enjoying it, but also really pushing me. You know, that's all I need."
That enjoyment will be key, if McCartney's to regularly hitting 4.80m - which was her bronze- medal height - and beyond.
"I feel much more confident, because I know things are quite consistent at the moment, and in a really good way, the height’s not quite reflecting where I'm at, which is really cool. That 4.73 was an easy 4.80 clearance, so I think I've definitely got more in the tank at the moment
"I'm also very aware I still need to do one step at a time, because I'm still just kind of finding my feet again."
For now, happiness, is most important to her and that could mean more moments like the one that saw her soar onto the global stage.
