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 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.
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 pole vault at the Summer Olympics is grouped among the four track and field jumping events held at the multi-sport event. The men's pole vault has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since the first Summer Olympics in 1896. The women's event is one of the latest additions to the programme, first being contested at the 2000 Summer Olympics – along with the addition of the hammer throw, this brought the women's field event programme to parity with the men's.
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 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.
Samuel Hathorn Kendricks is an American pole vaulter. He is a three-time indoor and six-time outdoor national champion (2014–2019), the 2016 Olympics bronze and 2024 Olympics silver medalist, and the 2017 and 2019 World Champion. In 2019, Kendricks set the American pole vault record at 6.06 m, tying him with Steve Hooker for fourth all time. He later won the gold medal at the World Championships in Doha.
Armand Gustav "Mondo" Duplantis is a Swedish-American pole vaulter. Widely regarded as the greatest pole vaulter of all time, Duplantis is the world outdoor and indoor record holder, two-time Olympic champion, two-time World outdoor and indoor champion, and current European champion.
Ernest John Uy Obiena is a Filipino pole vaulter. He is currently ranked world No. 3 in men's pole vault by the 2024 World Athletics Rankings.
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.
Sondre Guttormsen is a Norwegian athlete specialising in the pole vault. He won the gold medal at the 2023 European Indoor Championships. Guttormsen earned bronze at the 2021 European Under-23 Championships.
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. 29 athletes from 18 nations competed. 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.
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.
All Star Perche is an annual indoor pole vaulting meeting which is typically held in February at the Clermont-Ferrand Sports Hall in Clermont-Ferrand, France. The meeting was founded by world record-breakers Sergey Bubka and Renaud Lavillenie in 2016. Its creation was a response to the cessation of the annual Pole Vault Stars meeting in Donetsk due to the War in Donbass.
The men's pole vault at the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships took place on 20 March 2022.
The Philippines competed at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from 15–24 July 2022. The Philippines was represented by a lone athlete; pole vaulter Ernest Obiena.
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.
