On This Day

Pole Vault in History

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Events in Sport

  • 1879-09-19 Thomas Ray becomes youngest to break a world track & field record pole-vaulting 11' 2½" at age 17 years & 198 days
  • 1912-07-11 There are 6 medallists in the Stockholm Olympic pole vault; American Harry Babcock takes gold (3.95m); countrymen Frank Nelson and Marc Wright dead-heat for silver; 3-man dead-heat for bronze
  • 1928-08-01 Americans sweep medals at a rainy Olympic pole vault final in Amsterdam with Sabin Carr gold, from William Droegemuller and Charles McGinnis
  • 1940-04-13 American athlete Cornelius "Dutch" Warmerdam, using a bamboo pole, becomes 1st man to pole vault 15 ft, at University of California, Berkeley
  • 1942-02-07 1st indoor 15' pole vault (Cornelius Warmerdam 15' 3/8")
  • 1962-02-02 1st pole vault over 16' (4.88m) (John Uelses-16', Melrose Games)
  • 1962-02-03 John Uelses pole vaults record 489 cm
  • 1963-08-24 John Pennel is first person to pole-vault 17'
  • 1966-03-05 Bob Seagren pole vaults 5.19m indoor world record
  • 1966-07-23 John Pennel pole vaults record (5.34 m)
  • 1967-06-10 American pole vaulter Bob Seagren sets a world record mark of 17'7" in San Diego, California
  • 1968-10-16 American Bob Seagren, Claus Schiprowski of West Germany and East German Wolfgang Nordwig all record 5.40m in the final of the pole vault at the Mexico City Olympics; Seagren awarded gold on countback
  • 1969-06-21 John Pennel pole vaults world record (5.45 m)
  • 1972-07-02 American pole vaulter Bob Seagren breaks world record for the 4th and final time with 5.63m in Eugene, Oregon
  • 1972-09-02 For the first time since the advent of the Modern Olympics in 1896, a non-American wins the pole vault gold medal; East German Wolfgang Nordwig clears 5.5m at the Munich Games
  • 1984-07-13 Sergei Bubka of USSR pole vaults a record 5.89 m
  • 1988-09-28 Despite totally dominating his sport for 14 years, Ukrainian pole vaulter Sergey Bubka wins his only Olympic gold medal with a vault of 5.90m at the Seoul Games
  • 1991-03-15 Sergei Bubka pole vaults world record 6.14m (20 feet 1 3/4)
  • 1991-03-23 Sergei Bubka pole vaults world record indoor (6.12m)
  • 1991-08-05 Sergei Bubka of the Soviet Union breaks his own world pole vault record (6.10m) in Malmö Sweden
  • 1992-06-27 Dan O'Brien fails on pole vault & eliminated from Olympics decathlon
  • 1992-09-19 Sergei Boebka pole vaults world record (6.13m)
  • 1993-02-13 Sergei Bubka pole vaults indoor record (6.14 m)
  • 1993-02-21 Sergei Bubka pole vaults world record indoor (6.15 m)
  • 1995-02-10 Sun Cayun pole vaults female indoor world record (4.12m)
  • 1995-02-12 Sun Cayun pole vaults indoor female world record (4.13m)
  • 2004-08-24 Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia vaults 4.91m to break her own pole vault world record and win the gold medal from teammate Svetlana Feofanova at the Athens Olympics
  • 2004-08-27 Timothy Mack vaults an Olympic record 5.95m to win the pole vault gold medal from fellow American Toby Stevenson (5.90m) at the Athens Olympics
  • 2008-08-18 Russian pole-vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva sets a new world record of 5.05m to win the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics; her 24th world record
  • 2008-08-22 Steven Hooker wins the men's pole vault with 5.96m at the Beijing Olympics; Australia's first gold medal in men's athletics since 1968
  • 2016-08-15 Thiago Braz da Silva of Brazil sets an Olympic record 6.03m to win the men's pole vault gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games

Birthdays in Sport

  • 1881-10-28 Bruno Söderström, Swedish athlete (Olympic silver pole vault & bronze javelin 1906; bronze pole vault 1908; popularized bowling in Sweden), born in Stockholm, Sweden (d. 1969)
  • 1904-09-04 Sabin Carr, American athlete (Olympic gold pole vault 1928; WR 4.27m 1927), born in Santa Barbara, California (d. 1983)
  • 1926-02-20 Bob Richards, American athlete (Olympic gold pole vault 1952, 56; bronze 1948), born in Champaign, Illinois (d. 2023)
  • 1935-05-15 Don Bragg, American pole vaulter (Olympic gold, 1960), born in Penns Grove, New Jersey (d. 2019)
  • 1940-07-25 John Pennel, American pole vaulter (James E Sullivan Award-1963), born in Memphis, Tennessee (d. 1993)
  • 1940-12-30 Fred Hansen, American pole vaulter (Olympic gold 1964), born in Cuero, Texas
  • 1946-10-17 Bob Seagren, American pole vaulter/actor (Olympic gold 1968, "Soap"), born in Pomona California
  • 1962-02-27 Kory Tarpenning, American pole vaulter, born in Portland, Oregon
  • 1963-12-04 Sergey Bubka, Ukrainian pole vaulter (Olympic gold 1988; World C'ship gold 1983, 87, 91, 93, 95, 97), born in Luhansk, Ukraine
  • 1965-11-23 Rodion Gataullin, Uzbekistan pole vaulter (Olympic silver 1988)
  • 1970-12-02 Maksim Tarasov, Russian pole vaulter (Olympic gold 1992; World C'ship gold 1999), born in Yaroslavl, Russia
  • 1977-03-01 Rens Blom, Dutch athlete (World C'ships gold pole vault 2005), born in Munstergeleen, Netherlands
  • 1982-06-03 Yelena Isinbayeva, Russian athlete (Olympic gold pole vault 2004, 08; WR 5.06 2009; World C'ship gold 2005, 07, 13), born in Volgograd, Russia
  • 1982-08-19 Kevin Rans, Belgian pole vaulter, born in Ekeren, Belgium
  • 1986-11-26 Konstadinos Filippidis, Greek pole vaulter, born in Athens, Greece
  • 1987-06-01 Yarisley Silva, Cuban pole vaulter (World C'ship gold 2015; Olympic silver 2012), born in San Luis, Cuba
  • 1994-05-27 Shawn Barber, Canadian athlete (World C'ship gold pole vault 2019; World Indoor Tour 2016), born in Las Cruces, New Mexico (d. 2024)
  • 1999-11-10 (Armand) "Mondo" Duplantis, American-Swedish athlete (Olympic gold pole vault 2020; World C'ship gold 2019; WR 6.18m), born in Lafayette, Louisiana

Deaths in Sport

  • 1969-01-01 Bruno Söderström, Swedish athlete (Olympic silver pole vault & bronze javelin 1906; bronze pole vault 1908; popularized bowling in Sweden), dies at 87
  • 1983-09-12 Sabin Carr, American athlete (Olympic gold pole vault 1928; WR 4.27m 1927), dies at 79
  • 1993-09-26 John Pennel, American pole vaulter (James E. Sullivan Award-1963), dies at 53
  • 2019-02-16 Don Bragg, American pole vaulter (Olympic gold 1960), dies of a stroke at 83
  • 2023-02-26 Bob Richards, American athlete (Olympic gold pole vault 1952, 56; bronze 1948), dies at 97
  • 2024-01-17 Shawn Barber, Canadian athlete (World C'ship gold pole vault 2019; World Indoor Tour 2016), dies after long illness at 29

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