Phyllis Green

Phyllis Nicol (born Phyllis Green; 1908–1999) was a British high jumper. She was the first woman to clear five feet (1.52 metres) in the high jump, setting a world record when she was 17 years old. She broke her own record the following year and at the 1927 Women's Amateur Athletic Association championships, she cleared 1.58 metres. Following her brief athletic career, she moved to Ewell and was a missionary.

Early life Phyllis Adine Green was born on 2 February 1908 in Peckham, England, to Rose (née Hanvey) and Henry Ernest Green, a manager for an undertaker. She attended Peckham High School for Girls in south London.

Athletic career Green was 17 years old when she broke the world record for the women's high jump. In June 1925, she cleared 1.51 metres at Stamford Bridge stadium, matching the world record. On the same day, she broke the British record for the long jump held by Mary Lines, with a jump of 5.24 metres. A month later in Brussels, Green matched the high jump world record again. she broke the world record at Stamford Bridge stadium when she was the first woman to clear five feet (1.52 metres).

At the 1926 WAAA Championships, she won both the long and high jump events. In 1926 at Chiswick, she cleared 1.55 metres in the high jump, breaking her own world record. At the 1927 WAAA Championships at Palmer Park, Reading, she cleared 1.58 metres from a grass takeoff, her personal best. While the jump equalled the world record metrically, it was not ratified as it was 3/16 inches less than the imperial record at the time. Green used the scissors technique for her high jumps. After the 1927 championships, she did not compete again.