Women's pole vault world record progression

The first world record in the women's pole vault was recognised by the International Association of Athletics Federations in 1994. The inaugural record, 4.05 metres by Sun Caiyun of China set in 1992, was the world's best mark as of December 31, 1994. ^[1]

As of June 21, 2009, the IAAF has ratified 54 world records in the event. ^[2]

Pre-IAAF Record Progression

The first mark shows the measurement system in use at the time of the jump, the second mark shows the conversion. Marks set in the USA during this era were always measured in imperial measurements. Most of the world and IAAF recognize marks in metric measurements.

Mark	Athlete	Nation	Venue	Date	# [3]
4 ft 9 in (1.44 m) [1]	Ruth Spencer	United States	Painesville	14 May 1910
4 ft 10 in (1.47 m) [1]				15 May 1911
4 ft 11 in (1.49 m) [1]
5 ft 0 in (1.52 m) [1]
5 ft 1 in (1.54 m) [1]
5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) [1]
5 ft 3 in (1.6 m) [1]
5 ft 4 in (1.62 m) [1]
5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) [1]
5 ft 6 in (1.67 m) [1]
5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) [1]
5 ft 73⁄4 in (1.72 m) [4]
5 ft 8 in (1.72 m) [1]	Hazel Hutaff		Rock Hill	3 April 1915
5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) [1]
5 ft 93⁄4 in (1.77 m) [4]
5 ft 10 in (1.77 m) [1]	Lois Tatum		Tallahassee	13 April 1915
=5 ft 10 in (1.77 m) [1]	Emma Lee King
6 ft 01⁄2 in (1.84 m) [4]	Lois Tatum
=6 ft 01⁄2 in (1.84 m) [1]	Eva Fisk		Lincoln	13 May 1915
6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) [1]
6 ft 3 in (1.9 m) [1]
=6 ft 3 in (1.9 m) [1]	Mildred Carl		New Haven	6 June 1915
6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) [1]
6 ft 5 in (1.95 m) [1]
6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) [1]
6 ft 7 in (2 m) [1]
6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) [1]
6 ft 9 in (2.05 m) [1]
6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) [1]
6 ft 11 in (2.1 m) [1]
7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) [4]
7 ft 1 in (2.15 m) [1]
7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) [4]
7 ft 3 in (2.2 m) [4]		3 June 1919
2.25 m (7 ft 4+1⁄2 in) [1]	Elva Hintze	Germany	Nürnberg	17 July 1921
2.30 m (7 ft 6+1⁄2 in) [1]	Helene Henneke
2.35 m (7 ft 8+1⁄2 in) [4]
=2.35 m (7 ft 8+1⁄2 in) [4]	Yelena Goldobina	Soviet Union	Moskva	7 September 1924
2.53 m (8 ft 3+1⁄2 in) [4]	Zoya Romanova			26 August 1935
8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) [4]	Diane Bragg	United States	Philadelphia	6 July 1952
=8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) [4]	Brenda Walker	New Zealand	Wairoa	8 Jan 1969
8 ft 61⁄2 in (2.6 m) i [1]	Irene Spieker	United States	Louisville	10 February 1978
8 ft 7 in (2.61 m) i [1]				9 February 1979
9 ft 0 in (2.74 m) i [1]
9 ft 7 in (2.92 m) i [1]
10 ft 01⁄4 in (3.05 m) i [1]
10 ft 01⁄4 in (3.05 m) [4]	Jana Edwards			* June 1983
10 ft 6 in (3.2 m) [4]			Chicago	11 June 1983
10 ft 7 in (3.22 m) [4]			Cleveland	18 June 1983
11 ft 1 in (3.37 m) [4]				18 June 1983
11 ft 6 in (3.5 m) [4]			Fort Wayne	23 July 1983
11 ft 91⁄2 in (3.59 m) [4]
3.72 m (12 ft 2+1⁄4 in) [4]	Zhang Chunzhen	China	Guangzhou	20 April 1988
3.73 m (12 ft 2+3⁄4 in) [4]	Shao Jingmen			4 May 1988
3.75 m (12 ft 3+1⁄2 in) [4]	Zhang Chunzhen		Nanjing	10 June 1988
3.76 m (12 ft 4 in) [4]	Zhou Minxin		Fuzhou	22 April 1989
3.8 m (12 ft 5+1⁄2 in) [4]	Zhang Chunzhen		Guangzhou	9 September 1989
3.81 m (12 ft 6 in) [4]				24 March 1990
3.83 m (12 ft 6+3⁄4 in) [4]	Sun Caiyun			24 March 1991
=3.83 m (12 ft 6+3⁄4 in) [4]	Zhang Chunzhen
4.00 m (13 ft 1+1⁄4 in) [4]
4.02 m (13 ft 2+1⁄4 in) [4]			Beijing	5 June 1991
4.05 m (13 ft 3+1⁄4 in) [4]			Guangzhou	10 August 1991

IAAF Record Progression

Mark	Athlete	Nation	Venue	Date	# [3]
4.05 m (13 ft 3+1⁄4 in) [2]	Sun Caiyun	China	Nanjing, China	21 May 1992	1
4.08 m (13 ft 4+1⁄2 in) [2]				18 May 1995	2
4.08 m (13 ft 4+1⁄2 in) [2]	Zhong Guiqing				1
4.10 m (13 ft 5+1⁄4 in) [2]	Daniela Bártová	Czech Republic	Ljubljana, Slovenia	21 May 1995	1
4.12 m (13 ft 6 in) [2]			Duisburg, Germany	18 June 1995	2
4.13 m (13 ft 6+1⁄2 in) [2]			Wesel, Germany	24 June 1995	3
4.14 m (13 ft 6+3⁄4 in) [2]			Gateshead, England	2 July 1995	4
4.15 m (13 ft 7+1⁄4 in) [2]			Ostrava, Czech Republic	6 July 1995	5
4.16 m (13 ft 7+3⁄4 in) [2]			Feldkirch, Austria	14 July 1995	6
4.17 m (13 ft 8 in) [2]				15 July 1995	7
4.18 m (13 ft 8+1⁄2 in) [2]	Andrea Müller	Germany	Zittau, Germany	5 August 1995	1
4.20 m (13 ft 9+1⁄4 in) [2]	Daniela Bártová	Czech Republic	Köln, Germany	18 August 1995	8
4.21 m (13 ft 9+1⁄2 in) [2]			Linz, Austria	22 August 1995	9
4.22 m (13 ft 10 in) [2]			Salgótarján, Hungary	11 September 1995	10
4.25 m (13 ft 11+1⁄4 in) [2]	Emma George	Australia	Melbourne, Australia	30 November 1995	1
4.28 m (14 ft 1⁄2 in) [2]			Perth, Australia	17 December 1995	2
4.30 m (14 ft 1+1⁄4 in) [2]				28 January 1996	3
4.41 m (14 ft 5+1⁄2 in) [2]					4
4.42 m (14 ft 6 in) [2]			Reims, France	29 June 1996	5
4.45 m (14 ft 7 in) [2]			Sapporo, Japan	14 July 1996	6
4.50 m (14 ft 9 in) [2]			Melbourne, Australia	8 February 1997	7
4.55 m (14 ft 11 in) [2]				20 February 1997	8
4.57 m (14 ft 11+3⁄4 in) [2]			Auckland, New Zealand	21 February 1998	9
4.58 m (15 ft 1⁄4 in) [2]			Melbourne, Australia	14 March 1998	10
4.59 m (15 ft 1⁄2 in) [2]			Brisbane, Australia	21 March 1998	11
4.60 m (15 ft 1 in) [2]			Sydney, Australia	20 February 1999	12
4.60 m (15 ft 1 in) [2]	Stacy Dragila	United States	Sevilla, Spain	21 August 1999	1
i4.60 m (15 ft 1 in) [2] [5]			Pocatello, U.S.	19 Feb 2000	2
i4.62 m (15 ft 1+3⁄4 in) [2] [5]			Atlanta, U.S.	3 Mar 2000	3
4.63 m (15 ft 2+1⁄4 in) [2]			Sacramento, U.S.	23 July 2000	4
i4.63 m (15 ft 2+1⁄4 in) [2] [5]			New York City, U.S.	2 Feb 2001	5
i4.64 m (15 ft 2+1⁄2 in) [2] [5]	Svetlana Feofanova	Russia	Dortmund, Germany	11 February 2001	1
i4.66 m (15 ft 3+1⁄4 in) [2] [5]	Stacy Dragila	United States	Pocatello, U.S.	17 Feb 2001	6
i4.70 m (15 ft 5 in) [2] [5]					7
4.70 m (15 ft 5 in) [2]				27 April 2001	8
4.71 m (15 ft 5+1⁄4 in) [2]			Stanford, U.S.	9 June 2001	9
4.81 m (15 ft 9+1⁄4 in) [2]					10
4.82 m (15 ft 9+3⁄4 in) [2]	Yelena Isinbayeva	Russia	Gateshead, England	13 July 2003	1
i4.83 m (15 ft 10 in) [2] [5]			Donets'k, Ukraine	15 February 2004	2
i4.85 m (15 ft 10+3⁄4 in) [2] [5]	Svetlana Feofanova [6]		Athens, Greece	22 February 2004	2
i4.86 m (15 ft 11+1⁄4 in) [2] [5]	Yelena Isinbayeva		Budapest, Hungary	6 March 2004	3
4.87 m (15 ft 11+1⁄2 in) [2]			Gateshead, England	27 June 2004	4
4.88 m (16 ft 0 in) [2]	Svetlana Feofanova		Heraklion, Greece	4 July 2004	3
4.89 m (16 ft 1⁄2 in) [2]	Yelena Isinbayeva		Birmingham, England	25 July 2004	5
4.90 m (16 ft 3⁄4 in) [2]			London, England	30 July 2004	6
4.91 m (16 ft 1+1⁄4 in) [2]			Athens, Greece	24 August 2004	7
4.92 m (16 ft 1+1⁄2 in) [2]			Brussels, Belgium	3 September 2004	8
4.93 m (16 ft 2 in) [2]			Lausanne, Switzerland	5 July 2005	9
4.95 m (16 ft 2+3⁄4 in) [2]			Madrid, Spain	16 July 2005	10
4.96 m (16 ft 3+1⁄4 in) [2]			London, England	22 July 2005	11
5.00 m (16 ft 4+3⁄4 in) [2]					12
5.01 m (16 ft 5 in) [2]			Helsinki, Finland	9 August 2005	13
5.03 m (16 ft 6 in) [2]			Rome, Italy	11 July 2008	14
5.04 m (16 ft 6+1⁄4 in) [2]			Fontvieille, Monaco	29 July 2008	15
5.05 m (16 ft 6+3⁄4 in) [2]			Beijing, China	18 August 2008	16
5.06 m (16 ft 7 in) [7]			Zürich, Switzerland	28 August 2009	17

See also

• Men's pole vault world record progression

Notes

1. http://iaaf-ebooks.s3.amazonaws.com/2015/Progression-of-IAAF-World-Records-2015/projet/IAAF-WRPB-2015.pdf P314
2. "12th IAAF World Championships In Athletics: IAAF Statistics Handbook. Berlin 2009" (PDF). Monte Carlo: IAAF Media & Public Relations Department. 2009. pp. Pages 546, 645. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 29, 2011. Retrieved July 30, 2009.
3. The numbered occurrence of the athlete breaking the world record, in other words "#7" would indicate the 7th time the athlete broke the world record.
4. "Women's PV World Record Progression - PoleVaultPower.com".
5. "From 2000, IAAF Rule 260.18s (formerly 260.6.a) was amended to say world records (as opposed to indoor world records) can be set in a facility 'with or without a roof.' So far, only one event - the women's pole vault - has been affected by this change, which was not applied retrospectively. Therefore world records set in 2000 and 2001 by Stacy Dragila and Svetlana Feofanova can be regarded as 'absolute' and appear on these [record progression] lists." (p.546) This rule also applies to Isinbayeva's and Feofanova's 2004 marks.
6. The IAAF lists Yelena Isinbayeva as having set this mark on 20 February 2004 on their 2009-published progression lists. However, multiple sources elsewhere, including the IAAF's own list of highest women's indoor vaults of the year 2004, state that Svetlana Feofanova in fact set this record.
7. "World Records Ratified" . Retrieved November 9, 2009.