PoleVaultPower.com

I don't think this topic has been presented on PoleVaultPower yet and I thought it might be of interest to many vaulters (especially masters vaulters). What is presented at this link is the WAVA Age-grading calculator. This provides a means of comparing performance levels of people in different age groups. It does it by normalizing each age/performance pair by comparing it to the Age std (world record or very near) for that age. This algorithm is not perfect, but it does provide a relatively good means of comparison.

The image below is part of the page that will be presented to you when you first open the link.


On this page you will need to select the Jumps drop down menu and select Pole vault. Then enter your Age, your Sex and your height in meters (see example below), then click on the Age-grade button.


The results for this example are displayed below. The entry that is displayed in the Age-performance % is the height entered relative to the Age std height for the age entered. The entry that is computed in Age-graded result is your computed Age-performance % times the current Open std.


If you want to know how you would have done with your best jump compared to Bubka's best, look at the Age-graded result. If you want to compare your best to anyone else's best who is a different age, compute each person's Age-performance % and compare those two numbers. I am interested in hearing anyone's opinions about this tool. Have fun, jump high and stay safe!

Your Result
Age:18 Sex: F Time/distance/height: 3.23 Dec pts:0

Age-grading
Factor: 1.0799 Age-graded result: 3.49 Dec pts: 0
Open std: 4.45 Age std:4.12 Age-performance %: 78.38

...This is what i got when i put in my results...i'm not sure what that means though, does the % mean i only do 78% of what im' capable of, and does Age graded result mean that i should be jumping at least 3.49?? I"m confused could you help me out...just curious to know what these #'s mean

John, I think I got it to work. Pretty depressing though if I read it right. At 53, the age standard is 4.46 meters which is around 14 something. I'll be lucky if I hit 10 feet this summer when I start jumping. Bummer! Oh well, Later.............Mike. My numbers are, age 53, weight 165, height 5'7".

izzystikchik wrote:Age-grading
Factor: 1.0799 Age-graded result: 3.49 Dec pts: 0
Open std: 4.45 Age std:4.12 Age-performance %: 78.38

...This is what i got when i put in my results...i'm not sure what that means though, ...

As I understand it, the height you entered is 78.38% of the Age std height (which I think of as the best performance for a vaulter of that sex and age). Your Age-graded result of 3.49 can be compared to the woman's Open std. In other words, accounting for your age, your performance would be 3.49 when compared to the best woman's performance of 4.45.

So congratulations on jumping 78% as high as the best in your age! Having said all this, please read my next post below.

It appears I could have done a little more homework before making this post. Because some of the numbers for Open std did not seem correct, I went looking for how current this information is. Unfortunately it isn't current but hopefully it will be soon. This is a quote from a web page of the person who maintains the above mentioned link.

Common questions include when will the WAVA/WMA factors be updated - the best information I have is early in 2005, and I'll update the pages with these factors as soon as I receive them. (Current factors come from the 1994 WAVA publication: Masters Age-Graded Tables.)

Sorry for this inadequacy.

souleman wrote:John, I think I got it to work. Pretty depressing though if I read it right. At 53, the age standard is 4.46 meters which is around 14 something.

Mike, it can be a little depressing, but remember it takes years to learn (or re-learn in our cases) this sport. And once the values in these tables are updated, the number for 50 year olds will increase significantly thanks to Jerry Cash (who I jump against here in the NW) and Wolfgang Ritte of Germany who took Jerry's WR away from him. Wolfgang's M50 WR is 4.73m. And, according to Masters Rankings, last year there were 5 US vaulters in M50 age group that jumped 4.10m or higher. M50 is a very competitive group.

So, bottom line is we masters vaulters are usually very happy whenever we can vault and walk off the track in good enough shape to vault another day. Keep working at it and I hope to see you at a meet sometime.

hey Master vaulter.

Great Post.
At best this masters vaulting is a tuff gig. I mean training and vaulting is hard and dealing with and getting through all the injuries can be very trying . So anything that can help us keep our desire/energy/passion going is really important.
I think knowing how you are jumping compared to the younger vaulters is great motivator. I am at 88% right now and by this summer I hope to be at 90%+ and that will mean that I would be equal to young guys jumping 18'8" and where as that might not be exact and I am sure some people might argue the point, for me it is a badge of honor and will help me get out there and lift that extra weight, run one more sprint, or most importantly get me to move my grip up that one more inch. So for me this site will be a great motivator.
Thanks for the insight and I hope other master vaulters will use this to get pumped up.

master wrote:

izzystikchik wrote:Age-grading
Factor: 1.0799 Age-graded result: 3.49 Dec pts: 0
Open std: 4.45 Age std:4.12 Age-performance %: 78.38

...This is what i got when i put in my results...i'm not sure what that means though, ...

As I understand it, the height you entered is 78.38% of the Age std height (which I think of as the best performance for a vaulter of that sex and age). Your Age-graded result of 3.49 can be compared to the woman's Open std. In other words, accounting for your age, your performance would be 3.49 when compared to the best woman's performance of 4.45.

So congratulations on jumping 78% as high as the best in your age! Having said all this, please read my next post below.

oh thanks, i guess i feel better, but when i was seventeen a month ago i was jumping 80-somthing% of my age, so gosh darn it, it just gets harder the older you get...to a point that is

Izzy, the age grading thing is really designed for vaulters over the age of 35... so I wouldn't read too much into whatever it is telling you right now.

rainbowgirl28 wrote:Izzy, the age grading thing is really designed for vaulters over the age of 35... so I wouldn't read too much into whatever it is telling you right now.

True, true, but its still very interesting and i get bored in my study halls sometimes so i figured what the hell, u know?

vaultwest wrote:So anything that can help us keep our desire/energy/passion going is really important.
I think knowing how you are jumping compared to the younger vaulters is great motivator.

Thanks for your comments. For me also it is a motivator to keep trying to move up on that Age-performance %.

I recently completed a decathlon for the first time in 15 years. Pretty lousy score, as I blew out a knee on my first long jump and hobbled through the final 8 events. But age-grading brought my final from 4780 up to 6781. That's pretty generous, considering that I never broke 6000 in actuallity.

With some exceptions, the conversions are not too far off what my best marks were, though.