| Pole Vault Stars | |
|---|---|
| Date | Early February |
| Location | Donetsk, Ukraine  |
| Event type | Pole vault |
| Established | 1990 |
Pole Vault Stars was an annual indoor pole vaulting competition which was typically held in February at the Druzhba Palace of Sports in Donetsk, Ukraine. [1] The meeting was founded in 1990 by Sergey Bubka, the pole vault world record holder who grew up in the city. [2] [3] [4] Bubka brought an end to his distinguished career with a ceremony at the competition in 2001. [5]
The meeting traces its history back to 1990, when Bubka set a world indoor record mark of 6.05 m. He went on to set two further world indoor records at the meet, clearing 6.11 m at the second edition in 1991 and then setting a world indoor record of 6.15 m in 1993. [6] After standing for almost 21 years, in 2014 Renaud Lavillenie improved upon Bubka's record at Pole Vault Stars. Russian athlete Yelena Isinbayeva continued the event's record breaking traditions with two world record performances upon her first appearance in 2004. [7] She set a new world record at the meet every year from 2004 to 2009. [8] [9] The Russian broke the women's indoor record twice at the 2009 meeting. [10]
Zepter International was a long-time title sponsor of the event. The meeting's current commercial partner, Samsung, has been the title sponsor since 2011. [11] [12]
Days after the 2014 event, where Lavillenie set the new world record, the city of Donetsk became the epicenter of what became the War in Donbass. The continued situation has cancelled subsequent events. The 2015 event, moved from Donetsk to Kyiv, was cancelled at the last moment. Subsequently, in 2016 Lavillenie cooperated with Bubka to launch a new successor tournament to Pole Vault Stars called All Star Perche which takes place in France.
Key: Meeting record
| Year | Men's winner | Mark (m) | Women's winner | Mark (m) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Sergey Bubka (UKR) | 6.05 | ||
| 1991 | Sergey Bubka (UKR) | 6.11 | ||
| 1993 | Sergey Bubka (UKR) | 6.15 | ||
| 2004 |  Giuseppe Gibilisco (ITA) | 5.82 |  Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) | 4.83 |
| 2005 |  Derek Miles (USA) | 5.85 | Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) | 4.87 |
| 2006 |  Paul Burgess (AUS) | 5.80 | Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) | 4.91 |
| 2007 | Paul Burgess (AUS) | 5.80 | Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) | 4.93 |
| 2008 | Maksym Mazuryk (UKR) | 5.81 | Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) | 4.95 |
| 2009 | Steve Hooker (AUS) | 5.92 | Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) | 5.00 |
| 2010 |  Przemysław Czerwiński (POL) | 5.82 | Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) | 4.85 |
| 2011 |  Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) | 5.93 | Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) | 4.85 |
| 2012 | Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) | 5.82 |  Jiřina Ptáčníková (CZE) | 4.70 |
| 2013 | Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) | 5.85 |  Yarisley Silva (CUB) | 4.76 |
| 2014 | Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) | 6.16 |  Fabiana Murer (BRA) | 4.62 |
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.
Sergey Nazarovych Bubka is a Ukrainian former pole vaulter. He represented the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991. Bubka was twice named Athlete of the Year by Track & Field News, and in 2012 was one of 24 athletes inducted as inaugural members of the International Association of Athletics Federations Hall of Fame.
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.
Thierry Vigneron is a retired French pole vaulter. In the 1980s, he was among the world's leading pole vaulters. He broke the world record in the event four times and was the last man to hold the world record before Sergey Bubka, who would hold on to it almost 30 years until February 2014.
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.
Yarisley Silva Rodríguez is a Cuban pole vaulter. She won the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics – the first Latin American athlete to win an Olympic medal in that event.
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.
The 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France, from 4 to 6 March 2011.
Druzhba Arena was an indoor arena in Donetsk, Ukraine. It was built to develop hockey in the region. It was destroyed in May 2014 during the War in Donbas.
Jiřina Kudličková is a Czech former pole vaulter. She won the 2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki and the 2014 World Indoor Championships.
The PSD Bank Meeting was an annual indoor track and field competition which took place in February at the Arena-Sportpark in Düsseldorf, Germany. The inaugural edition 1. Internationales Indoor Meeting Düsseldorf was held in 2006 and attracted a sell-out crowd of 1500 people. The competition was created following investment by the Düsseldorf municipal council, bringing a new usage to the venue which had served as a training facility for the 1977 IAAF World Cup.
Lázaro Eduardo Borges Reid is Cuban pole vaulter.
Vitaly Afanasevich Petrov is a Ukrainian athletics coach, mainly specialising in pole vault. He was the coach of legendary pole vaulters, like Sergey Bubka, Yelena Isinbayeva and Giuseppe Gibilisco. All three were world champions, with the first two also winning Olympic gold medals and setting world records.
Luke Cutts is a British pole vaulter. His personal best of 5.83 m set in 2014 is the British indoor record for the event. His outdoor best of 5.70 m puts him third on the all-time British lists.
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.
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 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.
