7 Levels of Pole Vault
5 minute read
This is your journey as a pole vaulter from noob to GOAT. You’ll learn what challenges you will face at different levels of experience and how to overcome them. Your jump will change a lot, so remain open-minded and coachable throughout the process. And, as my fond gymnastics coach tells me,
DON’T FORGET TO HAVE FUN!!!
This is the seven levels of pole vault, explained.
Level 1: noob
(Black screen, roll left to right, pause briefly before displaying noob)
The bottom of the food chain. You look like it’s the first time you’ve picked up a pole… because it is.
(Sleeping winnie the pooh meme)
You are in this category if you’re a high schooler barely making any bars. That’s 7 - 12 feet for men, 6 - 9 feet for women
(A-roll footage
But … this is where everyone starts.
Even the best.
(Mondo jumping as a little kid)
You’ve got novelty to keep you interested, use this as a catalyst to develop a love and passion for the sport.
Your jumps are absolutely brutal to watch.
(A-roll footage)
You might be pulling off the ground like crazy, jumping off the wrong leg, or worse.
But once you get the hang of it, you’ll find that it starts being… kind of fun.
At this level, you’re going to be making your bars on stiff poles.
(Stiff pole legends… Warmerdam)
And that’s a good thing, because you’re going to be a lot more successful doing it this way.
Begin by gripping with one hand up from your maximum standing reach, typically 6-8 feet for a one-left run.
(Getting my measurement with my tripod)
(edit… no pole lol)
Your grip is where you hold on the pole. This will move incrementally higher as you get better at the event.
Your run is how many steps you take before you jump. In your first run, you are going to take one right foot step followed by one left foot step for a total of 2 steps.
(Other dude doing drills)
(Steve Hooker)
The ‘plant’ is when you place the tip of the pole into the metal box. Do this while standing, then take 2 big steps backward. Record where your tips of your feet are. This is your 2 step run.
(Slow motion Thiago Braz planting, freeze!)
(Me taking 2 big steps backwards)
Focus on a nice tall takeoff at the plant, keeping pressure with your top hand all the way through the vault, and shooting your feet as high as you can as you extend your body and clear the bar.
(Warmerdam again)
The bars are low enough that you don’t need to worry about consistency. You can jump in a different way every single time and still clear 7 feet. Just concentrate on moving the pole to vertical, and then get your body over the bar no matter what it takes.
(A-roll footage)
Focus on straight pole technique with strong upright posture at takeoff and full extension through your top hand.
(Warmerdam, etc. again)
If you’re at this level, you need to jump as much as possible. Do drills, drills, and more drills.
(Team hoot swingups)
You can vault every day if you want because your jumps are going to be very low-intensity.
‘Grip’ can also refer to the distance between your top hand and bottom hand. You’ll begin with your left hand an elbow’s width away from your top hand. As you progress, your grip will become narrower and your run will move back to 4,6, and 8 steps.
(A-roll showing it on the tripod)
Level 2: vaulter
(Black screen, type + pause on vaulter)
At this level, your jump still looks pretty rough. You’re either still straight-poling or you’re bending it very slightly. Still, you’re making respectable bars and you’ve earned the right to call yourself a pole vaulter.
(A-roll footage)
These are your high school state qualifiers.
(State high school meet footage)
That’s 12’6 to 14’6 for men and 9’6 to 12’6 for women
Start focusing on strength and speed training at this stage. If you’ve made it this far, you know you have talent in the event. Once your technique is finalized, further gains will be made by how strong and fast you are.
Start pushing the run back to 10, 12, and 14 steps. You’ll start seeing gains from faster approach speeds.
(Men clearing 14’ ish)
Now is the time to master your straight pole technique. As you run faster and from farther out, you will naturally begin to bend the pole. This only adds more power to your vault; it’s no reason to start changing it. For now, focus on maintaining your technique while bringing more speed into a stronger plant.
(A-roll footage)
You’re going to see some inconsistency in this stage as you’re figuring out how to pole vault. Still, there’s a lot of ways you can make that bar, and if you survive, you’ll get it done.
(Pole vault fail… my leg getting cut open.)
Level 3: little fish
(Black screen, type)
And now, you really know how to vault. You are the captain of your local meets as a little fish is the captain of its little pond.
(A-roll footage)
You are eligible to be: A high school state champion. An NCAA athlete. A Division 1 walk-on.
(Commitment posts highlight reel)
This is: 15 - 17 foot men and 13 - 14 foot women
You’re confident with holding the pole and running at high speeds with it. You’re starting to add power into the pole by elastically re-extending your left arm. Consistency is improving as you begin to understand the event.
(Cody getting over 17 feet)
(As needed, as many cracked out high school kids)
(Me breaking the state record)
Your technique is great, you’re winning meets, you’re on top of the world. You may be a state champion in a smaller state. You’ve still got unlocked potential, though, and that’s going to come from focusing on speed. Keep moving your run back to 12, 14, and 16 steps.
(More high schoolers)
Now is the time to make a radical change to your technique. Widen your grip so your bottom hand is more than an elbow’s length from your top hand. Instead of letting the bottom arm stay out of the way, drive it aggressively upwards during the takeoff. Remain elastic and upright through the plant, then re-extend and try to snap your pole in half with violent inertia. The resulting bend will launch you to previously unfathomable heights.
(Professional vaulters)
You need to be running a lot in this stage, which is tough because you also have to be vaulting a lot. Be careful of overdoing it and injuring yourself; it’s very common here! Avoid overtraining by reducing the number of repetitions you take in practice, and by prioritizing high effort and high quality.
(A-roll footage)
Level 4: big fish
(black screen, type)
Now you’ve entered the first level where you actually know what you’re doing. You’re a big fish dominating local meets, and you’re competitive at the bigger ones too. The jump to this level is made by refining your technique and getting faster. Way faster.
(A-roll footage)
In this level, you’ll find: Division 1 recruits, Olympic hopefuls, and European national team members
(Media day highlight reel, Natty team presentations walkouts, Eerik Haamer)
This is: 17’6 - 18’6 men and 14 feet to 15 feet women
At this stage, drills don’t do much for you anymore. Your most effective practice schedule is to jump from a full approach as much as possible. Your run is at 14, 16, or 18 steps. You’ve made your big technical leap and now you are reaping the rewards.
If you reach this level fast enough, you can do some serious damage in Junior Olympics and college.
But being consistent here is challenging. You have to be very precise and free of distraction. There’s a big difference between being a high school athlete and being a college athlete, and for a lot of people it’s a painful transition.
Keep calm, stay humble, and chive on, because the dreaded plateau comes for us all. You’ve got four short years in college to break into the next level.
Level 5: Leviathan
(Text across screen)
NCAA Champions, world class vaulters, and post-collegiate sufferers
(Kyle Rademeyer winning, Simen, NCAA winners)
If you are American, this is the worst level to be in.
You’re good enough to make the Olympics, but not good enough to make money so you’re in this agonizing state.
(Give money i IS poor)
You need REAL talent to make it to this stage on top of hard work. The vast majority of vaulters will never make it here.
(A roll footage)
These are 18’8 - 19’5 men and 15’2 - 15’10 women
(Trevor stephenson vaulting)
Characteristic of this stage is an increase in consistency. You’ve been jumping at your full approach for years. A certain level of confidence in this event is only reached with over a decade of experience.
(A roll footage)
Level 6: Pro
(Text across black)
Olympic Champions, All-time Greats
Sam Kendricks, Sergey Bubka, Emmanouil Karalis | Sandi Morris, Yelena Isinbaeva
(Short videos of each mentioned athlete)
19’6 - 20’ men and 16’ - 16’6 women
This is the golden level, where everyone wants to be at. This level is characterized by consistent Olympic and World championship appearances. You are the face of your country in the event.
(Sam Kendricks, Kendricks, and Kendricks)
Experience is no longer a factor here. Your success is characterized by pure talent and dedication.
(A-roll footage)
You don’t win meets by much. In fact, you only jump 2 - 6 inches higher than the competition because you’re pushing up against the ceiling of what the human body is capable of. But you do jump higher. Every time.
(Renaud Lavillenie winning the 2012 Olympics)
You are a natural in the event. You almost never finish a meet with less than 8 inches off your personal best. Your consistency is unmatched by the plebian vaulters in the previous levels.
(Scroll through Kendricks results)
Your travel is paid for by sponsors, you get invited to pole vault meets free of charge, you have the keys to the kingdom.
(Lavillenie walks around, casual shots)
On the men’s side, you would be the Olympic Champion in any other era. Since you last name is Karalis, you may go down as the most unlucky athlete in history, because you were born the same year as the sole occupant of the last level.
(Karalis casual shots)
Level 7: Him.
(Text across black)
This level is reserved for the Greatest Of All Time.
(Text on black)
(Voice modulation)
Mondo is in a complete class of his own.
(Mondo walking casual)
20’6+ is unfathomable.
I can’t even begin to explain how much harder it is to gain 2 inches on the competition at this level, let alone 8.
(Clearing some easy bar)
Yes, he is the fastest vaulter ever.
(Black screen flash)
Yes, he has the best technique.
(Black screen flash)
But what I find most impressive is his consistency.
(Black screen flash, underline consistency)
Mondo does not miss. Ever.
He has a certain kind of kinesthetic genius which enables him to imitate the technique of any vaulter
(mondo young)
since the age of eight.
(black text on screen)
His infallible body control and air sense, combined with two full decades of vault experience, and packaged in a prime 26 year-old male, means that 21’ becomes a regular occurance. Nobody else in the world can clear that bar. Not even on their best day.
(Karalis casual, betrubt)
For the very first time in history of the world, the pole vault champion is unbeatable.
There is no equivalent on the women’s side.
(Mondo, fading into black)
OUTRO:
Hey this Jak, I hope you enjoyed the video. If you did, feel free to like and subscribe and all that good stuff. I’m hosting a street vault in my hometown in North Dakota, if you have any interest in jumping, attending, sponsoring, or just checking the event out, click the link in the description. Alright, thanks for watching, bye.
(A-roll footage)
