Beware the long crossbar pegs!!

[PVJunkie]

I recently emailed one of the members of the rules committee to find out if they were allowing qualifying marks if the equpt. at the site where the mark was set did not meet the new rules (primarily the shortening of the peg length from 75mm to 55mm). The response was that if it could be shown that any part of the facility did not meet the 2003 rules the mark would be dissallowed!! I personally know about 3 or 4 people on the D1 list who better jump high again or keep their fingers crossed that no one calls them out. The other rule change we as vaulters need to know about is for this summer. The USATF only allows 1 (one) flat side on the crossbar ends!! Shorter pegs and one flat side............this is not a debate as to good or bad it is the RULE and we all must live with it or keep our fingers crossed we dont get caught.

later, B

[Carolina21]

What exactly is the rules committee trying to accomplish by making these changes? I really don't see any good coming out of shorter pegs, if they are trying to make the meets shorter I don't think it will really work. Now we just have more misses, 1 clearance takes a far shorter time than 3 misses. Yeah maybe a few people go out earlier. Plus from the elite standpoint wouldn't the people watching rather see makes than misses. I just jumped in a meet with the short pegs (at least the first time I knew they were shorter for sure), and it took forever on both the men and women, just like any meet with 30+ vaulters. Anyone know what exactly they are trying to accomplish? Also doesn't this kinda mean that old records will be in a different category than new ones set? because now it is technically more difficult to clear the bar without knocking it off.

[rainbowgirl28]

I have found that the new crossbar ends can slow things up a bit... Before you just had to make sure they were lined up and throw it up there. Now you have to add on the fun of making sure the flat side is down. Not a huge thing, but when you get into meets with less than superior help, it can be a pain when they put the bar up, realize it is sideways, take it down and put it up again...

[OUvaulterUSAF]

Someone mentioned to me Bubka was on the committee. I jokingly said he's just trying to protect his world record. It seems with these new rules its more difficult to jump those record breaking heights...hmm. Maybe we should throw out all the old records because they were not jumped using the new rules. Just a crazy thought.

[ashcraftpv]

Why is it that the rules committee is always doing something to make vaulting harder than it already is?

"Let's see.....what can we do to make pole vaulters miss more often."

"I know, lets make the pegs on the standards shorter. That will rob some people of new PRs"

"I have an idea, lets make a rule where all crossbars can only have the round ends with one flat side so its more likely to roll off the short pegs. Plus it'll piss of the workers trying to put the bar back up and make the competitions go even longer so we can get that dumb-ass two miss rule back in there"

"Yeah, why would we ever want to encourage athletes to actually do well in their events?"

asshats......all of them

[zack]

I would just like to know to what the point of the rule is? Do they have some twisted idea that it improves safety? It certainly doesn't speed things up like the failed two attempts per height rule a couple years ago.

[OAKPV2004]

I hate those crossbars. I vaulted with them before. Now there is no hope of a bar staying if it gets hit at ALL.

[Robert schmitt]

From the buzz I was thinking this rule came out of the Big 10 safty recomendations. I was wondering if they felt that it might improve the chances of a vaulter who stalls out up side down and gets his feet tied up in the cross bar! Again I think the solution to this is coaching vaulters on how to keep the pole rotating into the pit through out the vault. But, I was under the impression the rule was implemented to try to decrease the chance of this happening.

Not all of us are as talented as Mckane Lee his freshman year at the state meet . When he got stalled out with his feet stuck on the cross bar at 14 or 14'6". Starts to fall head first straight down. (The whole crowd is gasping) he tucks into a front flip and sticks a landing on his feet on the front portion of the mat. and then..... gives the crowd a wave It was pretty incredible. most people would have landed right on thier head.

[Decamouse]

The Rule Change came from the IAAF - which USATF followed and down the line - even with short pegs and only one flat side on the cross bar - you can still hit it and get it to stay one - I watch the wookie do it in practice all the time - just need the right touch

[lonestar]

From the buzz I was thinking this rule came out of the Big 10 safty recomendations. I was wondering if they felt that it might improve the chances of a vaulter who stalls out up side down and gets his feet tied up in the cross bar! Again I think the solution to this is coaching vaulters on how to keep the pole rotating into the pit through out the vault. But, I was under the impression the rule was implemented to try to decrease the chance of this happening.

From what I understood, it wasn't a safety issue at all, but a time issue. Their goal was to shorten vault competitions to 3 hours max, and by suggesting a 2 attempt rule(which wasn't adopted), shorter pegs, and rounded crossbar, more people would go out early instead of having those vaulters who clear everything on 3rd attempt and drag out a meet.

Does it save time? As Becca mentioned, the rounded crossbars sure don't, because it takes longer to put them up correctly, and they roll off easier. Is this more viewer-friendly? I think not - people want to see more makes, not misses.

I think the best way to save time is to have entry standards for big meets, raise the starting heights in big meets, have at least a 7-person crew to run the pit (2 people putting up the bar, 2 setting the standards, 1 flight coordinator, and 1 person to show/call standard placements on a performance board near the back of the runway, 1 person to run the time-clock and signal makes, misses, or time warnings.) Texas Relays has about 8-10 officials just for the vault! Granted, you can't get that many officials out at a local meet, but you can get volunteers from track classes at universities and train them the day before the meet or before the meet starts. Finally, strictly enforce the 60 second rule. With some efficient meet-management, we don't need any more rules to shorten the competition.

[achtungpv]

Wanna shorten college meets?

1. limit each event to 3 competitors per school. Nothing drags a** more than 19 decathletes and assorted scrubs attempting 10' for 2 hours before the real competition begins.

2. no D1 meet should ever start below 14'/D2 13'/D3 12'. If you can't clear that opening height you don't deserve to go to the meet, much less vault in college.

3. Move the bar up 20cm for the first 2 heights and 15cm there after.

4. Only measure the first bar to zero-in the standards until it is a record or qualifying mark attempt that requires a measurement. If it's off 1 or 2 cms after a couple of bars, who cares?