Men's pole vault at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad | |||||||||||||
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![]() Olympic Athletics | |||||||||||||
Venue | Japan National Stadium | ||||||||||||
Dates | 31 July 2021 (qualifying) 3 August 2021 (final) | ||||||||||||
Competitors | 29 from 18 nations | ||||||||||||
Winning height | 6.02 m | ||||||||||||
Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics | |||
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![]() | |||
Qualification | |||
Track events | |||
100 m | men | women | |
200 m | men | women | |
400 m | men | women | |
800 m | men | women | |
1500 m | men | women | |
5000 m | men | women | |
10,000 m | men | women | |
100 m hurdles | women | ||
110 m hurdles | men | ||
400 m hurdles | men | women | |
3000 m steeplechase | men | women | |
4 × 100 m relay | men | women | |
4 × 400 m relay | men | mixed | women |
Road events | |||
Marathon | men | women | |
20 km walk | men | women | |
50 km walk | men | ||
Field events | |||
High jump | men | women | |
Pole vault | men | women | |
Long jump | men | women | |
Triple jump | men | women | |
Shot put | men | women | |
Discus throw | men | women | |
Hammer throw | men | women | |
Javelin throw | men | women | |
Combined events | |||
Heptathlon | women | ||
Decathlon | men | ||
The men's pole vault event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place between 31 July and 3 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. [1] 29 athletes from 18 nations competed. [2] Armand Duplantis of Sweden won gold, with Christopher Nilsen of the United States earning silver and Thiago Braz of Brazil taking bronze. It was Sweden's first victory in the event and first medal of any color in the men's pole vault since 1952. Braz, who had won in 2016, became the ninth man to earn multiple medals in the pole vault.
All of the 2016 podium returned to Tokyo; Thiago Braz da Silva, Renaud Lavillenie, and Sam Kendricks. Kendricks tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Tokyo and was not allowed to compete. But the old guard of the sport had been supplanted by a new phenom, Armand Duplantis, a 21 year old who had 18 years of vaulting experience, setting age group world records since the age of 7. In 2019 he won silver at the World Championships. In 2020, he took Lavillenie's world record. [3]
It took a clean round of 5.65 metres to get into the final, 11 of the 14 finalists cleared 5.75 in qualifying. Seven jumpers made 5.80 metres, with Lavillenie passing and failing at the next heights. At 5.87 metres, Duplantis passed, only Braz and Chris Nilsen cleared. Duplantis cleared 5.92 metres on only his third jump of the competition. Nilsen cleared on his second attempt. Braz couldn't, leaving him for the bronze. Duplantis cleared 5.97 metres and Nilsen answered with a personal best. At 6.02 metres, Duplantis cleared again, still perfect. Nilsen took three attempts to join the 6 metres club but couldn't. Now as the winner, Duplantis could choose his next height to attempt. Instead of attempting to beat Braz' Olympic Record of 6.03 metres, he asked for 6.19 m (20 ft 3+1⁄2 in), a new world record. His first attempt saw his hips and body up around 6.50m, but he came back brushing the bar on his way down. He aborted his second attempt and the third was close. [4]
Silver medalist Nielsen was full of praise for the winner, Armand Duplantis. He compared the competition against Duplantis that evening as being a regular footballer "trying to emulate Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo" and that his superiority over the world's best pole vaulters was "impressive and ridiculous". [5]
This was the 29th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics.
2016 bronze medalist and 2017 and 2019 world champion Sam Kendricks of the United States qualified but had to withdraw due to a positive COVID-19 test. [6]
For the second consecutive Games, no nations made their men's pole vault debut. The United States made its 28th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.
A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's pole vault event if all athletes meet the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard is 5.80 metres. This standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 32 is reached. [7] [8]
The qualifying period was originally from 1 May 2019 to 29 June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021. The world rankings period start date was also changed from 1 May 2019 to 30 June 2020; athletes who had met the qualifying standard during that time were still qualified, but those using world rankings would not be able to count performances during that time. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Both outdoor and indoor meets are eligible. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period. [7] [9]
NOCs can also use their universality place—each NOC can enter one male athlete regardless of time if they had no male athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the pole vault. [7]
Entry number: 32. Qualified by Entry Standard: 22. By World Rankings Position, to complete the required entry number: 10. By Universality Places: 0
Qualification standard | No. of athletes | NOC | Nominated athletes |
---|---|---|---|
Entry standard – 5.80 | |||
3 | ![]() | Ethan Cormont Renaud Lavillenie Valentin Lavillenie | |
3 | ![]() | Torben Blech Bo Kanda Lita Baehre Oleg Zernikel | |
3 | ![]() | KC Lightfoot Chris Nilsen | |
2 | ![]() | Thiago Braz Augusto Dutra | |
2 | ![]() | Piotr Lisek Paweł Wojciechowski | |
1 | ![]() | Kurtis Marschall | |
1 | ![]() | Ben Broeders | |
1 | ![]() | Harry Coppell | |
1 | ![]() | Menno Vloon | |
1 | ![]() | Sondre Guttormsen | |
1 | ![]() | EJ Obiena | |
1 | ![]() | ||
1 | ![]() | Jin Min-sub | |
1 | ![]() | Armand Duplantis | |
1 | ![]() | Ersu Şaşma | |
World ranking | 2 | ![]() | Konstantinos Filippidis Emmanouil Karalis |
2 | ![]() | Seito Yamamoto Masaki Ejima | |
1 | ![]() | Germán Chiaraviglio | |
1 | ![]() | Huang Bokai | |
1 | ![]() | Claudio Stecchi | |
1 | ![]() | Rutger Koppelaar | |
1 | ![]() | Robert Sobera | |
1 | ![]() | ||
Total | 31 |
The 2020 competition continued to use the two-round format introduced in 1912. There were two distinct rounds of vaulting with results cleared between rounds. Vaulters were eliminated if they had three consecutive failures, whether at a single height or between multiple heights if they attempt to advance before clearing a height.
The qualifying round had the bar set at various heights up to a qualifying standard of 5.80 metres. All jumpers clearing that standard advanced to the final. A minimum of 12 jumpers advanced; if fewer than 12 achieve the qualifying standard, the top 12 (including ties after use of the countback rules) advanced. It has been common in recent Games for few enough vaulters to achieve the last height below the qualifying standard that none even attempt the qualifying standard.
The final had jumps starting typically just below the qualifying standard and increasing gradually. The final continued until all jumpers were eliminated. [10]
Prior to this competition, the existing world, Olympic, and area records were as follows.
World record | ![]() | 6.18 | Glasgow, United Kingdom | 15 February 2020 |
Olympic record | ![]() | 6.03 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 15 August 2016 |
Area | Height (m) | Athlete | Nation |
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Africa ( records ) | 6.03 | Okkert Brits | ![]() |
Asia ( records ) | 5.92 | Igor Potapovich | ![]() |
Europe ( records ) | 6.18 WR | Armand Duplantis | ![]() |
North, Central America and Caribbean ( records ) | 6.06 | Sam Kendricks | ![]() |
Oceania ( records ) | 6.06 | Steven Hooker | ![]() |
South America ( records ) | 6.03 OR | Thiago Braz | ![]() |
All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
The men's pole vault took place over two separate days. [1]
Date | Time | Round |
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Saturday, 31 July 2021 | 9:00 | Qualifying |
Tuesday, 3 August 2021 | 19:00 | Final |
Qualification Rules: Qualifying performance 5.80 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the Final.
Rank | Athlete | Nation | 5.55 | 5.70 | 5.80 | 5.87 | 5.92 | 5.97 | 6.02 | 6.19 | Height | Notes |
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![]() | Armand Duplantis | ![]() | o | — | o | — | o | o | o | xxx | 6.02 | |
![]() | Christopher Nilsen | ![]() | o | o | xo | o | xo | o | xxx | — | 5.97 | PB |
![]() | Thiago Braz | ![]() | o | xo | xo | o | xxx | — | 5.87 | SB | ||
4 | Emmanouil Karalis | ![]() | o | o | o | xxx | — | 5.80 | =PB | |||
KC Lightfoot | ![]() | o | o | o | xxx | — | 5.80 | |||||
6 | Piotr Lisek | ![]() | o | x– | o | xxx | — | 5.80 | ||||
7 | Harry Coppell | ![]() | o | xo | xo | xxx | — | 5.80 | SB | |||
8 | Renaud Lavillenie | ![]() | — | o | — | x– | xx | — | 5.70 | |||
9 | Oleg Zernikel | ![]() | xo | o | xxx | — | 5.70 | |||||
10 | Ersu Sasma | ![]() | o | xo | xxx | — | 5.70 | |||||
11 | Bo Kanda Lita Baehre | ![]() | o | xxo | xxx | — | 5.70 | |||||
Ernest John Obiena | ![]() | o | xxo | xxx | — | 5.70 | ||||||
13 | Menno Vloon | ![]() | o | xxx | — | 5.55 | ||||||
— | Kurtis Marschall | ![]() | xxx | — | NM |
Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ancient Egyptians, ancient Greeks and the ancient Irish people, although modern pole vaulting, an athletic contest where height is measured, was first established by the German teacher Johann Christoph Friedrich GutsMuths in the 1790s. It has been a full medal event at the Olympic Games since 1896 for men and since 2000 for women.
The men's pole vault at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea had an entry list of 21 competitors from 13 nations, with two qualifying groups before the final (15) took place on Wednesday September 28, 1988. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress.
Renaud Lavillenie is a French pole vaulter. Lavillenie won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London and the silver medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. In addition to his Olympic success, he has won three World Indoor Championships gold medals (record), three European Championships gold medals and four European Indoor Championships gold medals. He has also won one silver medal and four bronze medals at the World Championships. As of 25 August 2016, he holds the French national records for the highest pole vault clearance both outdoors and indoors. The 6.16 was the absolute world record for the pole vault for over six years, 2014–2020. He was the pole vault overall winner of the IAAF Diamond League in seven consecutive years, from 2010 to 2016.
The men's pole vault was a competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium on 8–10 August. Thirty-two athletes from 23 nations competed. The event was won by Renaud Lavillenie of France, the nation's first victory in the event since 1996 and third overall. Björn Otto and Raphael Holzdeppe of Germany took silver and bronze, respectively; like France, it was the first time since 1996 that Germany reached the men's pole vault podium.
Thiago Braz da Silva is a Brazilian athlete specializing in the pole vault who held the Olympic record of 6.03 metres. He won the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics and the bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
The men's pole vault competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium between 13–15 August. Thirty-one athletes from 16 nations competed. Thiago Braz da Silva of Brazil won the gold medal, the nation's first medal in the men's pole vault. Renaud Lavillenie of France was unable to successfully defend his 2012 gold, but became the seventh man to win two medals with silver this time. Sam Kendricks's bronze returned the United States to the podium after a one-Games absence.
Armand Gustav "Mondo" Duplantis is a Swedish-American pole vaulter, the current world outdoor and indoor record holder, two-time Olympic champion, two-time World outdoor and two-time indoor champion, the current European champion, and the current Diamond League champion. He won the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships. Duplantis is a three-time European champion from 2018, when he set current world under-20 record, and from 2022 and 2024, he is 2022 World Indoor Championship and 2021 European Indoor Championship gold medalist. He is widely considered the greatest pole vaulter of all time.
The men's pole vault at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on 6 and 8 August.
The men's pole vault at the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships took place on 4 March 2018.
Christopher Nilsen is an American athlete specialising in pole vault and high jump. He won the silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the pole vault event with a jump of 5.97 m.
The men's pole vault at the 2018 European Athletics Championships took place at the Olympic Stadium on 10 and 12 August.
The men's long jump event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place between 31 July and 2 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. Approximately 35 athletes were expected to compete; the exact number was dependent on how many nations use universality places to enter athletes in addition to the 32 qualifying through time or ranking. 31 athletes from 20 nations competed. Miltiadis Tentoglou won the gold medal, Greece's first medal in the men's long jump. Cuban athletes Juan Miguel Echevarría and Maykel Massó earned silver and bronze, respectively, the nation's first medals in the event since 2008.
The women's high jump event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 5 and 7 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. Even though 32 athletes qualified through the qualification system for the Games, only 31 took part in the competition. This was the 22nd appearance of the event, having appeared at every Olympics since women's athletics was introduced in 1928.
The women's pole vault event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 2 and 5 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. 31 athletes from 19 nations competed. In her first Olympics, 30-year-old American Katie Nageotte won the gold medal by 5cm with a clearance of 4.90 metres. The silver medal went to Russian world champion Anzhelika Sidorova and the bronze to Holly Bradshaw of Great Britain.
The men's pole vault at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha from 28 September to 1 October 2019.
Ethan Cormont is a French Olympic athlete who competes in the pole vault.
The men's pole vault at the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships took place on 20 March 2022.
The men's pole vault at the 2022 World Athletics Championships was held at the Hayward Field in Eugene on 22 and 24 July 2022. The winning margin was 0.27 metres which as of 2024 is the only time the men's pole vault has been won by more than 0.2 metres at these championships.
The men's pole vault at the 2023 World Athletics Championships was held at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on 23 and 26 August 2023.
The men's pole vault at the 2024 Summer Olympics took place on 3 and 5 August 2024 at Stade de France. This was the 30th time that the event was contested at the Summer Olympics. Sweden's Armand Duplantis won his second consecutive Olympic gold medal, setting a world record of 6.25 metres. Sam Kendricks of the United States earned the silver, while Emmanouil Karalis of Greece took the bronze.