Pole Vault Basics

Ok, so in hindsight maybe I should have begun with a blog about pole vault itself rather than the trials.  Many of you have had questions about the actual sport and rules of pole vaulting.  I am going to give you the BASICS--as that is all I know!  Ha!  I am not a pole vaulter and have never attempted the sport.  But, I am married to one [vaulter, that is] and have learned a thing or two in my years of attending track meets.

This is my attempt at explaining this to "normal" folk--meaning all of us people who have jobs and lives that do not involve running around in circles or wearing spandex. 

Basic definition-- "The pole vault is a track and field event where the participant runs with a long pole for a short distance, then plants the pole in the ground and uses it as a lever to propel himself into the air and over a bar. Pole vaulting has a high degree of difficulty, and takes quite a lot of time to learn. Executing successful jumps includes many basic elements that all have to be working together at the same time."

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/184035-pole-vaulting-basics/#ixzz20FAXHgKq

Basic terms:

The pole vaulter is the athlete.  The pole vaulter carries a pole and runs down a runway.  They plant their pole in a box (white box in front of the pit), to jump over the crossbar that is held up by the standards (the vertical poles that hold the bar up) that are either side of the pit (the foam mat that the vaulters land upon).  

Pic from EverythingTrackandField.com

The goal is to pole vault over the bar and have the bar stay!  If the bar falls, it is called a miss.  If it stays it is called a make.  You get three misses before you are "out" (if it helps to think of baseball terminology).  Similar to a baseball player who gets two strikes and then hits a homerun, the next time "at bat" he/she begins fresh--without any strikes.  A pole vaulter can miss once or twice and then make a bar, and the tally starts fresh.  But once they have three consecutive misses, they are done. 

On result list, a make is represented by an "o" and a miss is an "x."   

Ok, got all that!  Good...moving on.  

Most meets would not have a preliminary round and a final round, but major events like the Olympic Trials and, of course, the Olympics, will have two rounds.  The result sheet for the Olympic Trials preliminary round looks like this. 

Results from Tracktown 12.

There are 24 names on this list.  The goal of prelims is to get a smaller group of athletes to the final round.  Here they were aiming for about ten to move on to the final round.  In prelims you don't compete for a winner, just to narrow the field, so there is no 1st, 2nd or 3rd place.  

A prelim round will begin with an opening height.  This meet was 17' 4 1/2".  All athletes get a chance to make this bar.  Those who do not make the opening height appear with an NH beside their name--this means no height (they failed to clear a bar). Once that height is complete the officials will evaluate how many athletes are left and whether or not they need to move to the next height to continue narrowing down the field.  In this example 12 athletes were left after the opening height.  That is a good number to move forward to finals, but....

You will notice there are several athletes would have "PASS" beside their name.  An athlete can pass a height at any time.  This is done for a variety of reasons, which I won't get into now, but it basically means they skip that height.  If every athlete left in the top 12 had jumped and cleared 17' 4 1/2" would have jumped and made the opening height there would be no need for the next height.  However, you can't move forward to finals without making a height, so those athletes who passed the opening height needed to clear the second bar in order to advance.  Of the 5 that passed the first height, four cleared the bar at 17' 8 1/2" which means 11 athletes will advance to the finals. 

Now, finals are where vaulters are jumping to win.  The result sheet for the trials looked like this...

Results from Tracktown12.

You see our 11 athletes left from prelims are now listed on our start list for the final round.  Again, "o" is a make and the athlete would advance to the next height.  An "x" is a miss and three in a row means you are done for the day.  You see two athletes have NH for no height.  

The pole vaulter who jumps the highest without three misses in a row is the winner.  If more than one vaulter goes out (meaning fails to clear that particular height) on the same height, then the winner is the vaulter with less (total) misses. 

I would say "normally" at an Olympic Trials meet the top three finishers would be the athletes to represent their country in the Olympics.  The interesting thing about this year's results is that the third place finisher failed to jump the Olympic A standard this year which means the 4th place finisher will go to the Olympics. Ok, what did I just say?

The Olympics have an A and B standard, which the minimum expectations they set for every event.  In this case, the A-standard for pole vault is 18' 7 1/4".  Five pole vaulters had met the A-standard prior to the Olympic Trials, but in order to go to the Olympics for the USA you have to have the A-standard and finish in the top 3 at the trials.  Athletes have until the end of their event at the Olympic Trials to meet that standard.  In this case, the 3rd place finisher failed to meet that standard this year.  He had met the B-standard, however.  So.....if he had placed 3rd and there were no other athletes would had already met the A-standard, he would be going to the Olympics.  However, in this case, Derek Miles who placed 4th had already met the A-standard and will, therefore, be part of the Olympic Team (his third, might I add!).  

Apparently it helps if you make this face while vaulting :)

So, the 2012 Men's Pole Vault Olympic Trials top three finishers were Walker, Je. Scott and Roth.  However, the Men's Pole Vault Olympic Team will consist of Walker, Je. Scott and Miles.  

Clear as mud?