Masters on the World Lists

[roger/over]

My posting of the world masters records yesterday was another example of my AAHD (age-activated hyperdistractability) in action. What I really set out to learn was whether there were any vaulters on the 2008 outdoor list older than Jeff Hartwig (67).

When I finally got back to that original intention, I found that the oldest vaulter on Mirko Jalava’s world deep list (minimum 4.80m) was Francisco Fernandez of Spain, born 15 December 1964. He made the list, at 44, with a height of 4.80 at Pamplona on 28 June.

The only other vaulters in the masters 40-44 category were Hartwig (BD 25 September 1967) with 5.70 in the U. S. trials at Eugene on 29 June, and Grigorily Yegorov of Kazakstan (BD 12 January 1967) with 4.80 at Castellon on 21 June.

I was mildly surprised at how few vaulters were on the list who fit the masters 35-39 category: There were only eight total, with the oldest (39) being Andreai Fedotov of Moldova (BD 9 November 1968), who cleared 5.10, and the best-known, Miles, Lobinger and Mack all having 1972 birthdates with Miles having the best seasonal mark of 5.85m.

The oldest female vaulter on Mirko’s list (minimum 3.60m) was Irie Hill (39) of Great Britain, born 16 January 1969) who vaulted her seasonal best 3.60 on 9 March. Of the other masters age 35-39 women listed, Stacy Dragila (BD 25 March 1971) had by far the best vault with her 4.70 at Chula Vista on 22 June. Doris Auer of Austria and Petra Pechstein shared Stacy’s 37 years, but trailed far in height, with 4.00 and 3.80 respectively.

Derek Miles’ 5.80 currently ranks him at #9 on the world list. If his street vault at Berlin is accepted (Mirko usually does include these in his rankings), Derek’s rank would move to #4. Hartwig’s 5.70 puts him in a tie for #21. Stacy’s 4.70 ranks #10 on the women’s world list.

Thanks to Jalava for permission to abstract this information from his world deep lists <tilastopaja.org>.