Olympian Holly Bleasdale is hoping a new coach will take her to new heights as she prepares to head to America to work with him.
Holly, 20, is now working with American “super coach” Dan Pfaff who also coaches London Olympic gold medallist long-jumper Greg Rutherford and has worked with a host of other high profile athletes including amputee Jonnie Peacock.
Holly, who grew up in Euxton, near Chorley, and fiance Paul Bradshaw, 24, have recently relocated from their home in Leyland to Cardiff to be close to Dan’s UK base.
Next month, Holly and Paul - who is also a professional full-time athlete in the 800m - will make a temporary move to Phoenix, Arizona, where Dan Pfaff is based in between competitive seasons.
Holly, a former Parklands High School pupil and British record holder in the pole vault, said: “I am really excited about heading out to America to work with my new coach.
“I am sure it will spur me on to train even harder and improve.”
The couple, who met while training at Blackburn Harriers, became engaged after Paul proposed to Holly immediately after the Olympic final.
Paul, who was a teacher in the sports department at Runshaw College in Leyland, gave up his job to be with Holly in Cardiff.
Holly and Paul have decided to postpone their wedding until 2014 to allow Holly to concentrate on her athletics and achieve her target of winning medals at the European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg in March and the outdoor World Championships in Moscow in August.
Holly said: “Dan has done a great job with Greg and Jonnie and hopefully he’ll be able to improve me technically and get me more conditioned to help me jump higher.”
The pair will fly to America on November 10 and then return to Lancashire for Christmas.
Holly will then compete in the European Indoor Championships and return to Arizona for another two months.
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