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

Women's pole vault at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Olympic Athletics
Venue	Japan National Stadium
Dates	2 August 2021 (qualifying) 5 August 2021 (final)
Competitors	31 from 19 nations
Winning height	4.90
Medalists
Katie Nageotte  Vereinigte Staaten Anzhelika Sidorova  ROC Holly Bradshaw  Great Britain

The women's pole vault event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 2 and 5 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. 31 athletes from 19 nations competed. 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.

Summary

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

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

Qualification

Main article: Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

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.

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.

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.

Competition format

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.

Women's pole vault

Qualification standard	No. of athletes	NOC	Nominated athletes
Entry standard – 4.70	3	Griechenland	Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou Eleni-Klaoudia Polak Katerina Stefanidi
	3	Vereinigte Staaten	Morgann LeLeux Sandi Morris Katie Nageotte
	2	Kanada	Anicka Newell Alysha Newman
	2	China	Li Ling Xu Huiqin
	2	Schweden	Angelica Bengtsson Michaela Meijer
	1	Australien	Nina Kennedy
	1	ROC	Anzhelika Sidorova
	1	Weißrussland	Iryna Zhuk
	1	Cuba	Yarisley Silva
	1	Great Britain	Holly Bradshaw
	1	Italien	Roberta Bruni
	1	Slowenien	Tina Šutej
	1	Schweiz	Angelica Moser
	1	Ukraine	Maryna Kylypko
	1	Venezuela	Robeilys Peinado
World ranking	2	Finnland	Elina Lampela Wilma Murto
	1	Australien	Liz Parnov
	1	Belgien	Fanny Smets
	1	Tschechische Republik	Romana Maláčová
	1	Deutschland	Lisa Ryzih
	1	Italien	Elisa Molinarolo
	1	Norwegen	Lene Retzius
	1	Schweiz	Andrina Hodel
	1	Ukraine	Yana Hladiychuk
Total	32

Records

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	Südafrika
Asia (records)	4.72	Li Ling	China
Europe (records)	5.06 WR	Yelena Isinbayeva	Russland
North, Central America and Caribbean (records)	5.03	Jenn Suhr	Vereinigte Staaten
Oceania (records)	4.94	Eliza McCartney	Neuseeland
South America (records)	4.87	Fabiana Murer	Brasilien

Zeitplan

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

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

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

Result

Qualification

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

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	Griechenland	o	o	o	4.55	q
	A	Katie Nageotte	Vereinigte Staaten	—	—	o	4.55	q
	B	Anicka Newell	Kanada	—	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	Slowenien	o	o	o	4.55	q
8	A	Wilma Murto	Finnland	o	o	xo	4.55	q
	B	Yarisley Silva	Cuba	—	o	xo	4.55	q
	B	Katerina Stefanidi	Griechenland	—	—	xo	4.55	q
	A	Iryna Zhuk	Weißrussland	—	o	xo	4.55	q
12	A	Angelica Bengtsson	Schweden	o	xo	xo	4.55	q
13	B	Morgann LeLeux	Vereinigte Staaten	—	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	Schweden	o	o	xxx	4.40
	A	Sandi Morris	Vereinigte Staaten	—	o	xxx	4.40
18	A	Elisa Molinarolo	Italien	xo	o	xxx	4.40
19	A	Eleni-Klaoudia Polak	Griechenland	xxo	o	xxx	4.40
20	B	Angelica Moser	Schweiz	—	xo	xxx	4.40
21	B	Yana Hladiychuk	Ukraine	xxo	xo	xxx	4.40
22	A	Nina Kennedy	Australien	—	xxo	xxx	4.40
23	B	Romana Maláčová	Tschechische Republik	xo	xxo	xxx	4.40
24	B	Roberta Bruni	Italien	o	xxx		4.25
	A	Andrina Hodel	Schweiz	o	xxx		4.25
	B	Liz Parnov	Australien	o	xxx		4.25
27	B	Fanny Smets	Belgien	xo	xxx		4.25
	B	Lene Retzius	Norwegen	xo	xxx		4.25
—	A	Li Ling	China	—	—	xxx	NM
	B	Elina Lampela	Finnland	xxx			NM
	A	Alysha Newman	Kanada	xxx			NM

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nation	4.50	4.70	4.80	4.85	4.90	4.95	5.01	Height	Notes
	Katie Nageotte	Vereinigte Staaten	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	Griechenland	xxo	xxo	xo	x–	xx			4.80	=SB
5	Maryna Kylypko	Ukraine	o	xxx						4.50
	Tina Šutej	Slowenien	o	xxx						4.50
	Wilma Murto	Finnland	o	xxx						4.50
8	Yarisley Silva	Cuba	xo	xxx						4.50
	Xu Huiqin	China	xo	xxx						4.50
	Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou	Griechenland	xo	xxx						4.50
	Robeilys Peinado	Venezuela	xo	xxx						4.50
	Iryna Zhuk	Weißrussland	xo	xxx						4.50
13	Angelica Bengtsson	Schweden	xxo	xxx						4.50
—	Morgann LeLeux	Vereinigte Staaten	xxx								NM
	Anicka Newell	Kanada	xxx								NM