2016 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Pole Vault (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Pole vault
gender	Men
Attendees	31 athletes from 16 countries
Competition location	Estádio Nilton Santos
Competition phase	August 13, 2016 (qualification) August 15, 2016 (final)
Medalist Thiago Braz da Silva ( BRA )   Renaud Lavillenie ( FRA )   Sam Kendricks ( USA )

The men's pole vault at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro was held on August 13th and 15th, 2016 at the Estádio Nilton Santos . 31 athletes took part.

Olympic champion was the Brazilian Thiago Braz da Silva , who won ahead of the Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie . Bronze went to the American Sam Kendricks .

Karsten Dilla , Raphael Holzdeppe and Tobias Scherbarth started for Germany . All three failed in the qualification.
Athletes from Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current title holders

Olympic champion	Renaud Lavillenie ( France )	5.97 m	London 2012
World Champion	Shawnacy Barber ( Canada )	5.90 m	Beijing 2015
European champion	Robert Sobera ( Poland )	5.60 m	Amsterdam 2016
North / Central America / Caribbean champions	Natan Armando Rivera ( El Salvador )	4.70 m	San José 2015
South America champion	Germán Chiaraviglio ( Argentina )	5.70 m	Lima 2015
Asian champion	Zhang Wei ( People's Republic of China )	5.60 m	Wuhan 2015
African champions	Hichem Khalil Cherabi ( Algeria )	5.30 m	Durban 2016
Oceania Champion	Triston Vincent ( Australia )	4.10 m	Cairns 2015

Existing records

World record	Serhij Bubka ( Ukraine )	6.14 m	Sestriere , Italy	July 31, 1994
Indoor world record	Renaud Lavillenie ( France )	6.15 m	Donetsk , Ukraine	15th February 2014
Olympic record	Renaud Lavillenie ( France )	5.97 m	London finals , Great Britain	August 10, 2012

Note: All times are based on Rio local time ( UTC-3 ).

qualification

The athletes competed in two groups for a qualifying round. The height for the direct final qualification was 5.75 m. When it became clear that 5.70 m would be sufficient for participation in the finals, none of the jumpers even attempted the required qualification level. The final field was filled with the best twelve athletes from both groups - highlighted in light green. After all, a jump of 5.60 m without any previous unsuccessful attempt was sufficient to make it into the final.

Group A

August 13, 2016, 8:20 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	5.30 m	5.45 m	5.60 m	5.70 m	height	annotation
1	Sam Kendricks	United States	O	O	O	O	5.70 m
2	Renaud Lavillenie	France	-	-	-	x o	5.70 m
	Xue Changrui	People's Republic of China	-	O	O	x o
4th	Piotr Lisek	Poland	-	O	xo	x o	5.70 m
5	Germán Chiaraviglio	Argentina	O	O	xxo	x o	5.70 m
	Jan Kudlička	Czech Republic	O	O	xxo	x o
7th	Paul's Pujāts	Latvia	O	O	O	xxx	5.60 m
	Daichi Sawano	Japan	-	O	O	xxx
9	Robert Sobera	Poland	O	x-	O	xxx	5.60 m
10	Kurtis Marshal	Australia	O	O	xx o	xxx	5.60 m
11	Hiroki Ogita	Japan	xo	O	xxx		5.45 m
12	Luke Cutts	Great Britain	O	x o	xxx		5.45 m
	Augusto de Oliveira	Brazil	O	x o	xxx
14th	Tobias Scherbarth	Germany	xo	x o	xxx		5.45 m
15th	Raphael Holzdeppe	Germany	-	xx o	xxx		5.45 m
ogV	Milker Svärd Jacobsson	Sweden	xxx					without height

• 

  The Pole Robert Sobera retired with a jump of 5.60 m and a previous failed attempt

• 

  5.45 m was not enough for the Japanese Hiroki Ogita to participate in the final

• 

  The world champion of 2013 and vice world champion of 2015 Raphael Holzdeppe from Germany was eliminated with just 5.30 m

Group B

August 13, 2016, 8:20 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	5.30 m	5.45 m	5.60 m	5.70 m	height	annotation
1	Konstandinos Filippidis	Greece	O	O	xo	O	5.70 m
2	Thiago Braz da Silva	Brazil	-	xx-	O	O	5.70 m
3	Shawnacy Barber	Canada	-	xxo	O	x o	5.70 m
4th	Michal Balner	Czech Republic	O	O	O	xxx	5.60 m
5	Yao Jie	People's Republic of China	-	xo	x o	xxx	5.45 m
6th	Mareks Ārents	Latvia	O	O	xxx		5.45 m
	Huang Bokai	People's Republic of China	O	O	xxx
	Stanley Joseph	France	O	O	xxx
	Kévin Menaldo	France	-	O	x
	Paweł Wojciechowski	Poland	O	O	x
11	Robert Renner	Slovenia	O	x o	xxx		5.45 m
12	Ivan Horvat	Croatia	O	xxx			5.30 m
13	Logan Cunningham	United States	xx o	xxx			5.30 m
	Karsten Dilla	Germany	xx o	xxx
	Cale Simmons	United States	xx o	xxx
DNS	Seito Yamamoto	Japan

• 

  The Pole Paweł Wojciechowski failed with a jump of 5.45 m in the qualification

• 

  For the Frenchman Kévin Menaldo, 5.45 m wasn't enough to make it into the final

• 

  The German Karsten Dilla had to stand 5.30 m and was eliminated

• 

  The US jumpers (from left to right) Simmons - eliminated in qualifying with 5.30 m, Kendricks - bronze medalist - and Cunningham - 5.30 m, eliminated in qualification

final

August 15, 2016, 9:40 p.m.

Twelve athletes had qualified for the final, none of them had reached the required qualification level after it had become apparent that a lower level would be sufficient for participation in the final. Two Czechs and one athlete each from Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Greece, Japan, Canada, Latvia, Poland and the USA competed for the medals.

The favorite was primarily the French Olympic champion of 2012 and indoor world record holder Renaud Lavillenie. His fiercest competitors were the Canadian world champion Shawnacy Barber, the Poles Paweł Wojciechowski - vice European champion from 2014 / World Cup third from 2015 - and Piotr Lisek - also third from the World Cup third from 2015 - as well as the American Sam Kendricks. The German world champion from 2013 and vice world champion from 2015 Raphael Holzdeppe was completely out of shape in the qualification. Surprisingly, Wojciechowski also failed to reach the final.

The Latvian Pauls Pujāts was the first to retire because he did not make the starting height of 5.50 m. Five athletes failed at the next height of 5.65 m: Barber, the Greek indoor world champion from 2014 Konstantinos Filippidis, the Argentine South American champion Germán Chiaraviglio, the Czech Michal Balner and the Japanese Daichi Sawano.

Lavillenie entered the competition at 5.75m and jumped the height on the first attempt. Lisek and the Czech Jan Kudlička also succeeded. Kendricks had a failed jump and took the two remaining attempts with him to the next height. The Chinese Xue Changrui did the same, albeit with only one jump left. The Brazilian Thiago Braz da Silva mastered the height in the second attempt.

Changrui was eliminated at the following height of 5.85 m, while Kudlička and Lisek saved their remaining jumps after a failed attempt. Kendricks, da Silva and Lavillenie were each successful here with their first jump.

Lavillenie also crossed the following 5.93 m in the first attempt and was thus in the lead. Da Silva needed two jumps. Since Kudlička and Lisek failed in their two remaining attempts and Kendricks also tore here three times, da Silva already had the silver medal for sure. Jan Kudlička Piotr and Lisek took fourth place together. Sam Kendricks ranked third with a skipped 5.85 m and was the winner of the bronze medal.

The duel for gold was opened by Lavillenie with a successful first attempt over 5.98 m, with which he had surpassed his own Olympic record from 2012 by an inch. Da Silva skipped this height. Next, 6.03 m were laid. Lavillenie, who jumped first, tore twice, da Silva succeeded on his second attempt. Renaud Lavillenie then saved his last remaining attempt for 6.08 m. He failed and won silver. Da Silva renounced his attempts, he was an Olympic champion and was the first pole vaulter to exceed the 6-meter mark in an Olympic competition.

Thiago Braz da Silva was the first Brazilian Olympic champion in the pole vault . At the same time he won the first gold medal for his country in athletics in 32 years.

space	Surname	nation	5.50 m	5.65 m	5.75 m	5.85 m	5.93 m	5.98 m	6.03 m	6.08 m	Bottom line	annotation
1	Thiago Braz da Silva	Brazil	-	O	xo	O	xo	-	x o	-	6.03 m	OR
2	Renaud Lavillenie	France	-	-	O	O	O	O	xx-	x	5.98 m
3	Sam Kendricks	United States	O	xo	x-	O	xxx				5.85 m
4th	Jan Kudlička	Czech Republic	O	O	O	x-	xx				5.75 m
	Piotr Lisek	Poland	O	O	O	x-	xx
6th	Xue Changrui	People's Republic of China	xxo	xx o	xx-	x					5.65 m
7th	Michal Balner	Czech Republic	O	xxx							5.50 m
	Konstandinos Filippidis	Greece	O	xxx
	Daichi Sawano	Japan	O	xxx
10	Shawnacy Barber	Canada	x o	xxx
11	Germán Chiaraviglio	Argentina	xx o	xxx							5.50 m
ogV	Paul's Pujāts	Latvia	xxx									without height

• 

  Silver medal winner:
  Renaud Lavillenie, France

• 

  Bronze medal winner:
  Sam Kendricks, USA

• 

  The Czech Jan Kudlička took fourth place

• 

  The Pole Piotr Lisek also finished fourth

• 

  The Chinese Xue Changrui was sixth in the Olympics

• 

  Shared seventh place for the Czech Michal Balner

• 

  The Japanese Daichi Sawano came in seventh place

• 

  The Greek Konstantinos Filippidis also came in seventh

• 

  World champion Shawnacy Barber from Canada had to be content with tenth place

• 

  The Argentine Germán Chiaraviglio took eleventh place

Web links

• Results Book Rio 2016, official report at library.olympic.org, accessed October 6, 2018
• Results on the website of the IAAF Men's Pole Vault Association (English), accessed on October 6, 2018
• Sports-Reference, result of the men's pole vault , accessed on October 6, 2018

Video

• Rio Replay: Pole Vault Final on youtube.com, published August 21, 2016, accessed October 6, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The competition was won by Peter Hollenbeck, an Australian guest starter, with 4.50 m.
2. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 677 , accessed on October 6, 2018
3. ↑ Pole vaulter pulls stick with penis , magazine "Stern" August 12, 2016, accessed on October 6, 2018