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Who will be the next guy to go 20ft? And who will be the first woman to go 16ft? And with that, which height do you think will be achieved 1st.

Here are my guesses. For the guys no one really seems very close right now but when I look at the indoor season Jeff Hartwig had he seems closest to the 20 ft barrier. Taking a close second would definently have to be Demitri Markov. The guy went 19'10" at worlds last year. He has shown some amazing power!For the girls, I dont know what happend to Dragila this year but to tell you the truth, unless she gets her vaulting together, I don't see her coming close any time soon. Svetlana Feofanova flying 4.78 meters is amazing. With Annika Becker going 4.77, if any woman is gonna fly 16 ft it will be one of these two women!!! But in all reality, I dont want to sound sexist but it seems with the amazing popularity of womans vaulting starting to evolve, 16 ft will come before 20 ft.

But i do agree with the Araizona vaulter. those two girls are looking hot right now but I still won't count out Stacy. She could always just blow one out of nowhere like she has done in the past

Her form just hasn't look at its best lately. Mabey it's mental, if so, she should get back into it soon. We all know that she is a big meet performer!

I think women will reach the 16' mark before the next guy will get 20 ft as well!!

Don't count out Jeff! We both train under Earl Bell, and I have never seen him run better. If he can find the right condtions, I think it's in the bag.

dubjones wrote:Don't count out Jeff! We both train under Earl Bell, and I have never seen him run better. If he can find the right condtions, I think it's in the bag.

That would rock It would be great for the sport to get another guy over 20'.

Yeah no kidding. When a guy goes over 19'9 twice indoors. Thats sooooooo close to 20 ft. I think most vaulters would just have a metal block at 20 feet. Actually I know for a fast that hartwig has cleard 20 in practice numerous times. Just like bubka has gone about 21 something in practice. Jeff has the talent, weve all seen it, he just needs to get over his problem of no heighting so much. It would seariously be sweet for the sport. Thats like a sprinter breaking 9.8 in the 100, or a long jumper going 30 feet, or a tripple jumper going 60 feet. Its the one huge performance here and there that gets the sport back on the map! Look at Webbs mile from last year!

I was going to post a topic on what Bubka was rumored to have jumped unoffically. So it's 21 something, anyone know?

AZ boy you are killing me. Where are you getting your fact about Jeff. I've watch almost all of his practices over the last 9 years and he hasn't jumped 20 feet in practice. That distinction is Bubkas. Sorry, Lon

Yeah, what happened to Stacy? She is awesome. If she's back she will do it, but it will be a race between her and Svetlana Feofanova, she has really been kickin some butt!

Robert schmitt wrote:I was going to post a topic on what Bubka was rumored to have jumped unoffically. So it's 21 something, anyone know?

The German national vault coach told me that Bubka's best practice vault is only 6.20. Right above his WR. He did say though that he wouldn't believe a mark without seeing it in person or on tape and he saw that one. He's seen him take shots at 6.40 (21') in practice but he never got close to it. His opinion was that Bubka would put the bungee up as high as the standards would go and jump at it for the intimidation factor when training with other athletes. Hence, the video I've seen of him jumping at 6.30 two days before he pulled out of the '96 olympics. Every other vaulter you see in the background is in awe, but he ain't getting close to it. It was maybe a 6.00 clearance (still great), but a far cry from 21 feet.

As far as his speed, the current SWT head coach was the soviet national sprint coach during the 80's & early 90s. She said the stories of Bubka running a 10.1 are an urban legend. She said he may have run a 10.4, maybe 10.3 with a hurricane blowing behind him, but that was about it. He's all about efficiency at takeoff, baby.