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.
Yelena Gadzhievna Isinbayeva is a Russian former pole vaulter. She is twice an Olympic gold medalist, three-times a 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 the 2016 Rio Olympics after revelations of an extensive state-sponsored doping programme 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.
Silke Spiegelburg is a German pole vaulter. She is the younger sister of Richard Spiegelburg. She represented Germany at the Summer Olympics in 2004, 2008 and 2012, as well as having competed at the World Championships in Athletics. She is a European silver medallist in the event both indoors and outdoors.
Björn Otto is a retired German pole vaulter.
Ivana Španović is a Serbian long jumper, the 2023 World champion, a two-time World indoor champion, a two-time European champion, a three-time European indoor champion and a five-time Diamond League Trophy Winner. Considering her achievements and longevity, Ivana Španović is regarded as one of the greatest female long jumpers of all time, with her indoor 7.24m jump ranked 3rd in all-time records.
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.
Paweł Wojciechowski is a Polish pole vaulter. He won the gold medal at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics.
Adam Piotr Kszczot is a retired Polish middle-distance runner who specialised in the 800 metres. His achievements include silver medals at the 2015 and 2017 World Championships in Athletics, gold at the 2018 World Indoor Championships as well as silver and bronze at the 2014 and 2010 World Indoor Championships respectively. Kszczot won three gold medals in the 800 m at both the European Outdoor and Indoor Championships. He twice competed at the Olympic Games, in 2012 and 2016, narrowly missing the final on both occasions.
Mariya Aleksandrovna Lasitskene is a Russian athlete who specialises in the high jump. She is the 2020 Olympic champion and three-time world champion. With her victory in Tokyo, Lasitskene became the fourth female high jumper in history to win gold at both the Olympic Games and the World Championships.
Holly Bethan Bradshaw is an English track and field athlete who specialises in the pole vault. She used to be the British record holder in the event indoors and outdoors, with clearances of 4.87 metres and 4.90 metres. Bradshaw won a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She also won bronze at the 2012 World Indoor Championships, gold at the 2013 European Indoor Championships, bronze at the 2018 European Championships, and silver at the 2019 European Indoor Championships. She also won at the 2018 Athletics World Cup. Coached by Scott Simpson, she has been consistently ranked among the world's best and has been ranked in the world top ten on the Track and Field News merit rankings four times.
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.
Armand "Mondo" Duplantis is a Swedish-American pole vaulter. Regarded as the greatest pole vaulter of all time, Duplantis is the current world outdoor and indoor record holder [6.26 m and 6.22 m respectively]. He is a two-time Olympic champion, two-time World outdoor and indoor champion, and the current European champion.
Michał Haratyk is a Polish athlete specialising in the shot put.
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 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha from 28 September to 1 October 2019.
The 2019 Herculis was the 33rd edition of the annual outdoor track and field meeting in Monaco. Held from 11–12 July at Stade Louis II, it was the ninth leg of the 2019 IAAF Diamond League – the highest level international track and field circuit. 15 events were contested with 13 of them being point-scoring Diamond League disciplines. Most events were held on 12 July, except for the women's triple jump, which was held on 11 July at Port Hercules.
The 2019 Bislett Games was the 55th edition of the annual outdoor track and field meeting in Oslo, Norway. Held on 13 June at Bislett Stadium, it was the fifth leg of the 2019 IAAF Diamond League – the highest level international track and field circuit. 29 events were contested with 13 of them being point-scoring Diamond League disciplines.
