Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's pole vault

The women's pole vault event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 2 and 5 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium.[1] 31 athletes from 19 nations competed.[2] In her first Olympics, 30-year-old American Katie Nageotte won the gold medal by 5cm with a clearance of 4.90 metres. The silver medal went to Russian world champion Anzhelika Sidorova and the bronze to Holly Bradshaw of Great Britain.

Women's pole vault
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Olympic Athletics
VenueJapan National Stadium
Dates2 August 2021 (qualifying)
5 August 2021
(final)
Competitors31 from 19 nations
Winning height4.90
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Katie Nageotte  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Anzhelika Sidorova  ROC
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Holly Bradshaw  Great Britain
← 2016
2024 →

Summary

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Fifteen women qualified for the final by clearing 4.55m. Thirteen cleared the opening height of 4.50m, but the three who struggled at that height were among the favorites; defending champion Katerina Stefanidi, American champion Katie Nageotte and former junior world record holder Angelica Bengtsson each were down to their last attempt. At the next height, 4.70m, only four were able to get over the bar; World Champion Anzhelika Sidorova on her first attempt; seven-time British Champion Holly Bradshaw and Nageotte on their second; and again on her final attempt, Stefanidi. With a perfect series going, Sidorova had the lead, Bradshaw held the edge over Nageotte with Stefanidi off the podium as they moved the bar up to 4.80m, Stefanidi missed, Sidorova cleared to maintain her perfect series, Bradshaw missed and Nageotte made it to move into second position. Bradshaw and Stefanidi cleared on their second attempt, so the bar moved up to 4.85m. Stefanidi missed her first attempt again while the other three cleared on their first attempt. With nothing to be gained by a clearance, Stefanidi passed to the next height 4.90m. Only 9 women have ever cleared 4.90, all of these were among that group. Nobody cleared on their first attempt and when Stefanidi missed on her second and because of the earlier miss, final attempt, the medalists had been decided. Sidorova and Bradshaw missed again, then Nageotte cleared it cleanly with a scream to move into gold medal position. Sidorova passed her third attempt to make a single attempt at 4.95m for gold. Bradshaw missed equalling her personal best and finished with the bronze medal. Sidorova aborted her attempt at 4.95m passing under the bar leaving Nageotte with gold. After celebrating, Nageotte took one attempt at 5.01m to try to become #3 of all time but after already securing gold, she didn't have the fire, quitting half way down the runway.

Background

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This was the 6th appearance of the event, having appeared at every Summer Olympics since 2000.

Qualification

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A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the women's pole vault event if all athletes meet the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard is 4.70 metres. This standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 32 is reached.[2][3]

The qualifying period was originally from 1 May 2019 to 29 June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021. The world rankings period start date was also changed from 1 May 2019 to 30 June 2020; athletes who had met the qualifying standard during that time were still qualified, but those using world rankings would not be able to count performances during that time. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Both outdoor and indoor meets are eligible. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period.[2][4]

NOCs can also use their universality place—each NOC can enter one female athlete regardless of time if they had no female athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the pole vault.[2]

Competition format

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The 2020 competition continued to use the two-round format introduced in 1912. There were two distinct rounds of vaulting with results cleared between rounds. Vaulters were eliminated if they had three consecutive failures, whether at a single height or between multiple heights if they attempted to advance before clearing a height.

The qualifying round had the bar set at various heights up to a qualifying standard (to be determined closer to the start of the Games; 4.60 metres in 2016). All jumpers clearing that standard advanced to the final. A minimum of 12 jumpers advanced; if fewer than 12 achieved the qualifying standard, the top 12 (including ties after use of the countback rules) advanced.

The final had jumps starting typically just below the qualifying standard and increasing gradually. The final continued until all jumpers are eliminated.[5]

Women's pole vault

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Qualification standard No. of athletes NOC Nominated athletes
Entry standard – 4.70 3   Greece Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou
Eleni-Klaoudia Polak
Katerina Stefanidi
3   United States Morgann LeLeux
Sandi Morris
Katie Nageotte
2   Canada Anicka Newell
Alysha Newman
2   China Li Ling
Xu Huiqin
2   Sweden Angelica Bengtsson
Michaela Meijer
1   Australia Nina Kennedy
1   ROC[Note RUS] Anzhelika Sidorova
1   Belarus Iryna Zhuk
1   Cuba Yarisley Silva
1   Great Britain Holly Bradshaw
1   Italy Roberta Bruni
1   Slovenia Tina Šutej
1   Switzerland Angelica Moser
1   Ukraine Maryna Kylypko
1   Venezuela Robeilys Peinado
World ranking 2   Finland Elina Lampela
Wilma Murto
1   Australia Liz Parnov
1   Belgium Fanny Smets
1   Czech Republic Romana Maláčová
1   Germany Lisa Ryzih
1   Italy Elisa Molinarolo
1   Norway Lene Retzius
1   Switzerland Andrina Hodel
1   Ukraine Yana Hladiychuk
Total 32

Records

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Prior to this competition, the existing world, Olympic, and area records were as follows.

World record   Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 5.06 Zürich, Switzerland 28 August 2009
Olympic record   Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) 5.05 Beijing, China 18 August 2008
Area Height (m) Athlete Nation
Africa (records) 4.42 Elmarie Gerryts   South Africa
Asia (records) 4.72 Li Ling   China
Europe (records) 5.06 WR Yelena Isinbayeva   Russia
North, Central America
and Caribbean
(records)
5.03 Jenn Suhr   United States
Oceania (records) 4.94 Eliza McCartney   New Zealand
South America (records) 4.87 Fabiana Murer   Brazil

Schedule

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All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

The women's pole vault took place over two separate days.[1]

Date Time Round
Monday, 2 August 2021 19:00 Qualifying
Thursday, 5 August 2021 19:00 Final

Result

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Qualification

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Qualification Rules: Qualifying performance 4.70 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the Final.[6][7]

Rank Group Athlete Nation 4.25 4.40 4.55 Height Notes
1 B Holly Bradshaw   Great Britain o 4.55 q
A Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou   Greece o o o 4.55 q
A Katie Nageotte   United States o 4.55 q
B Anicka Newell   Canada o o 4.55 q
A Robeilys Peinado   Venezuela o o 4.55 q
B Anzhelika Sidorova   ROC o 4.55 q
A Tina Šutej   Slovenia o o o 4.55 q
8 A Wilma Murto   Finland o o xo 4.55 q
B Yarisley Silva   Cuba o xo 4.55 q
B Katerina Stefanidi   Greece xo 4.55 q
A Iryna Zhuk   Belarus o xo 4.55 q
12 A Angelica Bengtsson   Sweden o xo xo 4.55 q
13 B Morgann LeLeux   United States o xxo 4.55 q
B Xu Huiqin   China o xxo 4.55 q
15 A Maryna Kylypko   Ukraine o xo xxo 4.55 q
16 B Michaela Meijer   Sweden o o xxx 4.40
A Sandi Morris   United States o xxx 4.40
18 A Elisa Molinarolo   Italy xo o xxx 4.40
19 A Eleni-Klaoudia Polak   Greece xxo o xxx 4.40
20 B Angelica Moser   Switzerland xo xxx 4.40
21 B Yana Hladiychuk   Ukraine xxo xo xxx 4.40
22 A Nina Kennedy   Australia xxo xxx 4.40
23 B Romana Maláčová   Czech Republic xo xxo xxx 4.40
24 B Roberta Bruni   Italy o xxx 4.25
A Andrina Hodel   Switzerland o xxx 4.25
B Liz Parnov   Australia o xxx 4.25
27 B Fanny Smets   Belgium xo xxx 4.25
B Lene Retzius   Norway xo xxx 4.25
A Li Ling   China xxx NM
B Elina Lampela   Finland xxx NM
A Alysha Newman   Canada xxx NM

Final

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Rank Athlete Nation 4.50 4.70 4.80 4.85 4.90 4.95 5.01 Height Notes
  Katie Nageotte   United States xxo xo o o xo xr 4.90
  Anzhelika Sidorova   ROC o o o o xx– x 4.85
  Holly Bradshaw   Great Britain o xo xo o xxx 4.85
4 Katerina Stefanidi   Greece xxo xxo xo x– xx 4.80 =SB
5 Maryna Kylypko   Ukraine o xxx 4.50
Tina Šutej   Slovenia o xxx 4.50
Wilma Murto   Finland o xxx 4.50
8 Yarisley Silva   Cuba xo xxx 4.50
Xu Huiqin   China xo xxx 4.50
Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou   Greece xo xxx 4.50
Robeilys Peinado   Venezuela xo xxx 4.50
Iryna Zhuk   Belarus xo xxx 4.50
13 Angelica Bengtsson   Sweden xxo xxx 4.50
Morgann LeLeux   United States xxx NM
Anicka Newell   Canada xxx NM

References

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  1. ^ a b "Athletics Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d "Qualification System – Games of the XXXI Olympiad – Athletics" (PDF). IAAF. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  3. ^ "IAAF to follow other sports with world ranking system for athletes". BBC Sport. 7 March 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  4. ^ "Olympic qualification period suspended until 1 December 2020". World Athletics. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  5. ^ "Athletics Explanatory Guide" (PDF). Tokyo 2020. August 2019.
  6. ^ "Athletics – Women's Pole Vault – Results" (PDF). olympics.com. TOCOG. 2 August 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  7. ^ "Athletics – Women's Pole Vault – Qualification – Results Summary" (PDF). olympics.com. TOCOG. 2 August 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.