by Stuart WeirThe pole vault at the 2020 Inspiration Games was fascinating. Stuart Weir sent us this piece on the men and women competing in the pole vault.
Sandi Morris, photo by Inspiration Games / Wanda Diamond League
Anjelica Bengstton, photo by Inspiration Games / Wanda Diamond League
Piotr Lisek, photo by Inspiration Games / Wanda Diamond League
Pole Vault
We have become accustomed to these virtual pole vault competitions. Three male vaulters and three female vaulters in different locations and possibly different countries. This time it was the traditional form of competition, not the multiple jumps within a set time favored in previous competitions.
Sam Kendricks, photo by Inspiration Games / Wanda Diamond League
Sam Kendricks won the men’s competition with 5:81 from Piotr Lisek 5.66 with Valentin Lavillenie recording no mark. Kendricks said afterwards; “We [pole vaulters] have to pick up [speed] so when the wind comes strong, we actually have to use it to our advantage. At times, we had the wind at our backs, maybe a little cross but it was a great day to jump high. Everybody had to work with a little bit of rain and that’s kind of the summation of the Inspiration Games. We wanted to be able to have something to overcome, and it just happened to be a couple more things than just the distance.
Valentin Lavillenie, photo by Inspiration Games / Wanda Diamond League
“[About Olympics postponement] I had to take one step back and say that I’m professional in this sport when you take time off because for the last five years it’s been championship after championship.
Piotr Lisek, photo by Inspiration Games / Wanda Diamond League
“It doesn’t hit me as hard as it would a younger competitor because they need those championships to improve themselves. The good thing is when we have smaller events like this, the world champion gets an invitation first. That’s our advantage and we want to put on a great show, so more people get added to it and sport comes back”.
Katerina Stefanidi, photo by Inspiration Games / Wanda Diamond League
The women’s event was something of a disappointment. 16 jumps and only 4 successful. Former Olympic and world champion Katerina Stefanidi have three failures after opening height of 4.46. Angelica Bengtsson cleared 4.36 and 4.46, each at the second attempt, before failing at 4.56. Sandi Morris was successful at 4.56 and 4.66 before failing at 4.76.
Angelica Bengstton, photo by Inspiration Games / Wanda Diamond League
Morris commented: “Surprisingly, the wind was mostly a tail wind, then it would be a strong cross for a little while at the end, so I was kind of struggling with it at the end. But if you’re patient and you wait on it, it would turn to a tail, so I got lucky. I haven’t jumped from my full approach since the indoor season, so I was kind of using this as an advantage to get off the ground, to get some jumps under my belt and have some fun.
Sandi Morris, photo by Inspiration Games / Wanda Diamond League
“This is a very unique situation that we’re in, and I’m very lucky to have an opportunity to jump. I’ve learned that it’s harder to keep yourself extremely accountable in a time where there’s no competitions. It’s harder than I thought it would be, but I think one of my strengths is that I’m very creative”.
Katerina Stefanidi, photo by Inspiration Games / Wanda Diamond League
Stefanidi said: “We got a little greedy. We do this every year where we go to the first meeting and we use the first meet as a training for the long run. But here the difference was that in these first meets we have this energy, we have this atmosphere that helps and carries you through to get used to the long run and longer poles. We didn’t have this today.”It felt like the first practice I ever had from almost a year so it was a little tough. But I am happy we did it, now we are there so it will be good for the rest of the season later on. I was completely alone and it was harder than I thought”.
Sandi Morris, photo by Inspiration Games / Wanda Diamond League
