Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long flexible pole as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, Cretans and Celts. It has been a full medal event at the Olympic Games since 1896 for men and since 2000 for women.
Yelena Gadzhievna Isinbayeva is a Russian former pole vaulter. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, a three-time World Champion, the current world record holder in the event, and is widely considered the greatest female pole-vaulter of all time. Isinbayeva was banned from 2016 Rio Olympics after the appearance of an independent report about an extensive state-sponsored doping program in Russia, thus dashing her hopes of a grand retirement winning the Olympic gold medal. She retired from athletics in August 2016 after being elected to serve an 8-year term on the IOC's Athletes' Commission.
The first world record in the men's pole vault was recognised by the International Association of Athletics Federations in 1912.
Stacy Renée Dragila is an American former pole vaulter.
Giuseppe Gibilisco is an Italian bobsledder and former pole vaulter, who won the 2003 World Championships with a personal best of 5.90 m. He followed this with a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics.
The Millrose Games is an annual indoor athletics meet held each February in New York City. They started taking place at the Armory in Washington Heights in 2012, after having taken place in Madison Square Garden from 1914 to 2011. The games were started when employees of the New York City branch of Wanamaker's department store formed the Millrose Track Club to hold a meet. The featured event is the Wanamaker Mile.
Steven "Steve" Leslie Hooker OAM is an Australian former pole vaulter and Olympic gold medalist. His personal best, achieved in 2008, is 6.06 m making him the third-highest pole vaulter in history, behind Sergey Bubka and Renaud Lavillenie.
Fabiana de Almeida Murer is a retired Brazilian pole vaulter. She holds the South American record in the event with an indoor best of 4.82 m and an outdoor best of 4.87 m, making her the fourth highest vaulter ever at the time, now the eighth. She won the gold medal at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships and also won at the 2007 Pan American Games. Murer represented Brazil at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. She is a four-time South American Champion with wins in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2011. Murer was coached by both the Ukrainian Vitaly Petrov, who managed the world record holders Sergei Bubka and Yelena Isinbayeva, and her husband, Élson Miranda de Souza, a former vaulter himself.
Jennifer "Jenn" Suhr is an American pole vaulter. She has been an Olympic and World champion, has been ranked #1 in the World, has been the #1 American pole vaulter since 2006, and has won a total of 17 US National Championships. She holds the world indoor pole vault record at 5.03 m. She holds the American women's pole vault record indoors. In 2008, she won the U.S. Olympic trials, setting an American record of 4.92 m and won a silver medal in the Beijing Olympics. She won the gold medal at the London Olympics on August 6, 2012. Track & Field News named her American Female Athlete of the Year for 2008.
Konstantinos Filippidis is a Greek pole vaulter. He won the gold medal at the 2014 World Indoor Championships and the silver medal at the 2017 European Indoor Championships. He took the sixth place at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
The USA Indoor Track and Field Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. In years which feature a World Indoor Championships in Athletics, the championships serve as a way of selecting the best athletes for those competitions.
Weltklasse in Karlsruhe, formerly known as BW-Bank Meeting, is an annual indoor track and field competition which takes place in January or February in Karlsruhe, Germany. The meeting was first held at the Europahalle in 1985 and is currently an IAAF Indoor Permit Meeting. The athletics meeting is known for having strong fields in the short sprint events. The 2016 edition was part of the inaugural IAAF World Indoor Tour.
Pole Vault Stars is an annual indoor pole vaulting competition which is typically held in February at the Druzhba Palace of Sports in Donetsk, Ukraine. The meeting was founded in 1990 by Sergey Bubka, the pole vault world record holder who grew up in the city. Bubka brought an end to his distinguished career with a ceremony at the competition in 2001.
Shawnacy Campbell "Shawn" Barber is a Canadian track and field athlete specialising in the pole vault. He is the former world champion in pole vault having won the event with a height of 5.90 m at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing. Barber is also the reigning Pan American Games champion winning in Toronto in 2015 with a height of 5.80 m. Barber won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as well.
Mark Hollis is an American track and field athlete who competes in the pole vault. His personal best for the event is 5.83 m, set in 2014. He finished third at the 2014 IAAF Continental Cup.
Piotr Lisek is a Polish athlete specialising in the pole vault. He won bronze medals at the 2015 World Championships and 2016 World Indoor Championships and the silver medal at the 2017 World Championships. He is the first Polish vaulter to jump over 6 meters.
Sandi Morris is an American pole vault record holder. She won the silver medal in the pole vault event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She also won silver at the pole vault event at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics. In 2018 she won gold at the World Indoor Championships. Morris has a personal best vault of 4.95 m indoor, set on March 12, 2016 in Portland, Oregon. She matched this height at the 2018 World Indoor Champships when setting a new championship record. July 23, 2016, Morris cleared 4.93 m at American Track League in Houston at Rice University breaking Jennifer Suhr's American outdoor record in the pole vault. Morris cleared 5.00 m at 2016 IAAF Diamond League Memorial Van Damme in Brussels on September 9, 2016 to set the U.S. women's outdoor pole vault record.
