PoleVaultPower.com

Vaulters I am starting to do a study for an article. I was wondering if you guys and girls could help me out by stating your Vault PR's and Long Jump PR's. If you could also add how long you have been vaulting I would appreciate it. So that the results are accurate if you could provide the information from the time when you vaulted your PR.



Pole Vault PR:
Long Jump at time of Vault PR:
Long Jump PR:
How Long have you been Vaulting when you hit your PR:


Thanks everyone.

Vault PR: 15'6"
LJ at time of vault PR: 20'1"
LJ PR: 20'1"
How long i was vaulting when i hit my PR: 4 yrs (HS)

also I should add that I never trained for long jump except for a few weeks my freshman year, and I still jumped 20'1" as a senior


other stats you might want:
height: 5'11"
weight: 173lb
approach for vault: 7 step
approach for LJ: 8 step

In high school, my long jump PR was barely over 13' (and I did it in quite a few meets) and I ended up pole vaulting 10'6" a couple times. I was in my second year of both events.

Last year (2005) I think my long jump PR was 14'2" or so (I long jumped in 1 meet, so I probably could have gone a bit farther with practice, but I doubt more than 15') and my pole vault PR was 11'6". At that point I had been vaulting ~7 years, but I had a year off in there.

My high school coaches are still impressed I pole vaulted as high as I did for being as slow as I was. My PR in the 100 was a very windy 14.8 and a somewhat legal 14.9.

Dr. Jean Claude Perin, national vault coach for France in the 80s i believe, did a study on correlates with with pole vault performance. He found that the LJ had the highest correlation of all possible variables at .86. I have lost track of the study - in french naturally - but you might find it useful if you can track it down.

Pole Vault PR: 5.30i
Long Jump at time of Vault PR: 7.75i
Long Jump PR:7.75
How Long have you been Vaulting when you hit your PR: 3.5yr HS, 3.5 Univ.

This is a good one. I'm interested to see the results of this study.

If someone can find the study, maybe Sami can translate it for us

PV Pr 15-8
LJ pr 21-5
Long Jump at time of Vault 21-5
5 years of training when both PR's happened

So, If LJ is related to PV performance then is anyone doing any trainiing on the long jump? I have played with alot of the physics trying to get a positive relationsip between the horizontal vs Vertical movement of the top hand thru the vault. You see at one point in time both movements wll equal each other and at that moment the body must be going thru that same transition of horizontal to vertical (45 deg. angle out of the box, poles point of rotation). If the timing is right the body will be aligned with the angle.
I would watch (frame by frame) a few jumps on a tv with a stationary camera perpindicular to the box). Chart the movement of the top hand shoulders, hips and trail leg foot. Be sure to draw a line on the screen at a 45 deg. angle out of the box. All points should hit the line at the same time. Let me know what you find.

Rick Baggett
WSTC LLC

I agree Altius. I will have to contact some people to see if they have the paper.


I have read a few times that for a male to jump 18 feet they need to be able to long jump at least 23' or further. I figured with the number of vaulters we have on this site we can start putting together some hard data for all heights.


To me it becomes a simple question of rather a vaulter or jumper for that matter, can take their speed and transfer it. Much like in the long jump just because your carry X speed doesn't mean you are using it at takeoff.

A perfect example is in the Long Jump. Why do some athletes take off very flat while others get more height. Usually it is because the flatter athlete does not have the ability to handle the speed they are generating and thus can not generate enough vertical lift at takeoff.

This is the same in the vault. Not only is taking off under cause you to be flat at takeoff, but not being able to handle the speed your generating. This will take a look at the free takeoff/pre jump and bring another key point to the conversations.

That is a brief look at the study/article I am working on.

As usual, I have to be the exception to the rule.

LJ 20'6"

PV 18'6"

Started jumping when I was five, but didn't train year-round till I was twelve. My last jump in the mid eighteens came at twenty-nine.

I think the disparity between my long jump and pole vault has to do with the fact that the ONLY athletic thing I can do is vault. Athletic skills were very hard for me to learn, and unless I have a pole in my hands I am totally inept.

Pole Vault PR: 13'
Long Jump at time of Vault PR:19'5
Long Jump PR:19'5
How Long have you been Vaulting when you hit your PR:2 years.