Would more pole vaulting records break if the pole was longer?

Factual Questions
1

It seems to me that the biggest setback for pole vault record-breaking is the length of the pole. At some point there’s a physical limitation that will need to be adjusted so that records can continue to be broken, and that means the pole will need to be lengthened.

Presumably there’s an official body that decides these things. But if that is so (and maybe it’s not) are the current records really fair if past vaulters had a shorter pole to contend with and had no chance of reaching these current “heights”?

2

IIRC, they can use whatever length of pole they want. Presumably there’s a length and stiffness of pole that reaches the human limitation of how much stiffness people can bend vs the length of pole. If you have a really long pole, in order to get it to support your body weight on the way up, it’s going to need to be very stiff. But this stiffness is perhaps too much for a person to be able to flex when they put it in the ground.

I think I remember that they can use differing lengths from when my friend ran track. I’m sure someone who actually ran track will come along and correct me soon.

3

I believe poles can be of any length. cite

The pole is essentially a tool to convert kinetic energy (from the vaulter’s run) to potential energy (the vaulter’s height). Of course it’s a bit more complicated than that, but the point is a pole need only be long enough, and additional length doesn’t help.

4

BellRung,etc has it right. You use a longer pole as your strength and technique improve.

The poles are rated based on the vaulter’s weight. They also come in various levels of stiffness for the same weight rating.

Pole vault.

5

Oh. Well whaddaya know.

That runs counter to sense in my head, but I guess there’s plenty of evidence that proves it.

6

I think some day I’ll get around to changing my name to BellRung, Etc. It’s like when the Queer Alliance at my school broke into loose factions termed The Endless Acronym because queer didn’t encompass all of the members.

:slight_smile:

7

When they first had fiberglass poles there was a lot of controversy. They were banned and then OKd and then banned again. Eventually they were allowed on a permanent basis.

8

Indeed. I didn’t know about the on/off/on rulings, but my brother was a high school vaulter in '64-'65 (or so.) He used an aluminum tube pole, just before the flexy poles came in. Even with the old stiff pole, it seemed to me that, “those guys are crraaazy!” Watching the vaulters with the twang poles on Wide World of Sports was scary.:eek: