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 competitions were known to the Mycenaean Greeks, Minoan Greeks 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 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.
The first world record in the men's pole vault was recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations in 1912.
Alhaji Jeng is a Swedish pole vaulter.
Kazimir ("Miro") Zalar is a retired Swedish pole vaulter. He was born in Slovenia, but came to Sweden and Karlskrona at a young age.
The men's pole vault was a track and field athletics event held as part of the Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fifth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The competition was held on Wednesday, July 10, 1912, and on Thursday, July 11, 1912. Twenty-five pole vaulters from eleven nations competed. NOCs could enter up to 12 athletes. It was the second straight Games in which more than 3 medals were awarded in the event. The event was won by Harry Babcock of the United States, the nation's fifth consecutive victory in the event. Fellow Americans Frank Nelson and Marc Wright tied for second and were both awarded silver; normally, this would have constituted a medal sweep. However, bronze medals were awarded to the three men tied for fourth place. This put both Canada and Sweden on the podium for the second consecutive Games and awarded the United States a total of four medals in the 1912 pole vault.
Jennifer Lynn Suhr is an American former 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.
Vesa Rantanen is a retired Finnish pole vaulter.
Nadine O'Connor is a retired mathematics teacher and a world record setting, hall of fame Masters Track and Field athlete. While she specializes in the pole vault, due to her athletic training, she also holds the World Masters Athletics world records in the 100 metres, 200 metres, the Indoor 60 metres and 200 metres. She also holds the American record in the long jump, 80 metre hurdles, 300 metre hurdles and pentathlon.
Angelica Therese Bengtsson is a Swedish track and field athlete who specialises in the pole vault. She became the first pole vault winner at the inaugural Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore, 2010.
Jillian Schwartz is an American-born female former pole vaulter who competed internationally for Israel. She represented the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics and competed at five consecutive World Championships in Athletics from 2003 to 2011. Her best placing in international competition was fourth at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships.
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.
Alysha Eveline Newman is a Canadian track and field athlete who specializes in the pole vault. She competed at the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. Newman was the 2018 Commonwealth Games champion in the women's pole vault, where she set a new Games record of 4.75 metres (15.6 ft).
Armand GustavDuplantis is a Swedish-American pole vaulter, the current world outdoor and indoor record holder, the current Olympic and 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 medallist.
Gabriela Mihalcea is a Romanian former track and field athlete who competed in the high jump and pole vault. She holds the Romanian record of 4.25 m for the pole vault. She was two-time national champion in high jump and a six-time pole vault champion.
Zhong Guiqing is a Chinese former track and field athlete who competed in the pole vault. Her best of 4.15 m is a former world record. She was a one-time Chinese national champion.
Alexis "Lexi" Jacobus is an American pole vaulter. Lexi Jacobus has an identical twin Tori Weeks Hoggard, who is also a pole vaulter. Lexi qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics by finishing third at the Olympic trials. Jacobus is the first woman to win 4 NCAA Division 1 pole Vault titles.
Lisa Ulrika Gunnarsson is a Swedish athlete who specialises in the pole vault. Her personal bests in the event, 4.50 metres outdoors and 4.55 indoors, are both World youth best performances. Gunnarsson finished sixth at the 2017 European Indoor Championships in Belgrade and has won two French Championship titles.
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.
Sweden 
