the.com/polevault
Sprinting full speed at a wall, then converting your panic into flight.
means To launch yourself over a high bar using a long flexible pole, planting it in the ground and riding its spring upward.
from A transparent compound of "pole" and "vault." "Pole" descends from Old English "pal," a borrowing of Latin "palus" (a stake), while "vault" arrives via Old French "volter" (to leap or turn), from a Vulgar Latin root tied to "volvere," to roll or turn. So the word literally means "to leap by means of a stake" — humans have been clearing ditches, fences, and streams with a planted pole for centuries before it became a measured sport in the 19th century.
- bar height
- World record clears over six meters skyward
- pole physics
- Fiberglass stores and returns your kinetic energy
- ancient roots
- Once used to leap canals, not bars
- momentary speed
- Vaulters sprint nearly as fast as 100m runners
- upside down
- You invert completely while airborne mid-jump
mondo duplantis — swedish pole vaulter who set world record of 6.26m in 2024
katie nageotte — american olympic gold medalist at tokyo 2020 with 4.90m clearance
armand duplantis — previous world record holder at 6.18m before his brother surpassed him