Russian Style Pole Vaulting..

[master]

VaultNinja,

I came across another study that addresses take-off angle as one aspect in comparing why flexible pole vaulting is better than rigid pole vaulting (from a scientific perspective.) Go to this link and then download the PDF file that is linked in the fourth paragraph.
http://www.brunel.ac.uk/~spstnpl/BiomechanicsAthletics/PoleVault.htm
This looks like it could be very informative.

- master

[Robert schmitt]

an observation today....I was reading agapit's link to a interview with bubka... he was talking about the planting motion...moving your hand forward and up....no big deal. I new this and have always done this...until today. Years of rust and jumping once a month must have caught up to me. I've felt exceptionally slow the past 2 months so I decided to actually try to run other than once a month on a runway during a meet. I was doing some pole runs with a relativly big pole- a 15'3" 195# altius ( not the lightest carry wieght you can find in pole ).

I would jump of my take off foot and nearly fly out of control as my body tried to stay up right. What finally dawned on me is that on my next to last left my planting motion started from right against, but, behind my hip and moved up not forward(I wasn't round housing my plant by much-infact the pole tip was still falling in a straight line) The point of this post is I was shocked to realize how much it screws up your take off untill I did it wrong with a heavy pole in my hand.

[vaultfan]

As Altius mentioned, there are other aspects of the Russian style of vaulting than the free takeoff worth discussing. Petrov really emphasizes the need for a precise and correct execution of lowering the pole during the approach and the plant. And Petrov feels that there appears to be an additional thrust that forces the athlete to run more quickly with an increased rate when gradually lowering the pole.

“From Beginner to Bubkaâ€Â

[altius]

Vault and flip - wrote that the reason certain vaulters- Bubka,Markov etc could prejump, was because they were incredible athletes. If you ever get hold of a copy of "From beginner to Bubka" go to the back cover. There you will see frames of 19 year old Wendy Young - a good but not incredible athlete - using a prejump as she vaults 4.40m for a pb and Olympic Qualifier.

We have evidence that 'relatively' ordinary athletes can master elements of the Petrov/Bubka model - although it is true most are closer to a free take off than a prejump like Wendy.

[altius]

The article mentioned by 'Master' - which purports to be a scientific analysis of straight pole and flexible pole vaulting is a load of codswallop. It is a typical example of stuff which gets produced so that the author can 'be published'. It was published because none of the reviewers knew enough about pole vaulting - or in fact about biomechanics - to turn it down! So it survives as 'science when it is merely an attempt to baffle readers with bulls*** - and it is in fact completely inaccurate. I suggest you do not waste your time reading it because it is largely incomprehensible. However it would interesting for someone with a solid biomechanics background to 'destruct' it.

[izzystikchik]

hmmm....when did Wendy jump, which olympics?

[altius]

You sound a bit suspicious!!
Wendy Young jumped 4.40 in march last year at the Adelaide Grand prix.
The height was an Olympic qualifier - ie it qualified her to be selected for the Olympic Games. In many countries - including Great Britain - she would have ben selected for Athens. However in Australia we have a peculiar system of selection -driven in part by lack of funds and partly by the strange notion that selection for the Olympic team should be kept very special - except when the games are in OZ when the powers that be want to have lots of Assies in front of the home crowd -and its cheaper! What it means is that Australian selectors will not often select even a young athlete - and Wendy was 19 when she jumped 4.40m - with great potential - to give them an initial experience of competition at this level.
Bear in mind that because of distance, cost and lack of opportunity in OZ she had only four competitions last season against athletes of similar ability -which is why she raised the money to go to the US in April to try and get some more experience in different conditions. However the point is not how high she jumped but HOW she jumped. You will clearly see that she is off the ground before the tip of the pole has touched the back of the box -that is what I termed a pre jump! We had athletes jumping 3.85 who could 'jump like Bubka' in other phases of the vault - eg see photographs of Lauren Eley in from Beginner to Bubka. You do no have to be either a superstar or an incredible athlete to master at least some elements of his techical model.

[izzystikchik]

Wendy was 19 when she jumped 4.40m - with great potential

WOW!!!! Thats really good!!!

[OUvaulterUSAF]

My idea of the supreme effeciant vault was tim mcmicheal i doubt very many people on this board ever saw him jump, pat manson and chad harting were very good as well.

Kyle, I've seen TM jump.

[VaultNinja]

;) The article mentioned by 'Master' - which purports to be a scientific analysis of straight pole and flexible pole vaulting is a load of codswallop. It is a typical example of stuff which gets produced so that the author can 'be published'. It was published because none of the reviewers knew enough about pole vaulting - or in fact about biomechanics - to turn it down! So it survives as 'science when it is merely an attempt to baffle readers with bulls*** - and it is in fact completely inaccurate. I suggest you do not waste your time reading it because it is largely incomprehensible. However it would interesting for someone with a solid biomechanics background to 'destruct' it.

Destruct it for us then. I'm curious as to why it is so false, in a biomechanical sense.

[KYLE ELLIS]

My idea of the supreme effeciant vault was tim mcmicheal i doubt very many people on this board ever saw him jump, pat manson and chad harting were very good as well.

Kyle, I've seen TM jump.

and what do u think???

[vaultfan]

It seems that sliding the pole tip into the back of the box is considered by some to be an important part of the Russian style of vaulting. I haven’t been able to locate any discussion of this topic in “From Beginner to Bubka.â€Â