2023 World Athletics Championships – Women's pole vault

The women's pole vault at the 2023 World Athletics Championships was held at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on 21 and 23 August 2023.

For the first time in the women's pole vault at these championships, two gold medals were awarded.

Summary

Two women needed personal bests and two more needed season bests in order to clear 4.65m and qualify for the final. In the final, only eight were able to clear 4.65 again. Six got over 4.75m, with personal bests for Molly Caudery and Angelica Moser. Four cleared 4.80m, including Tina Šutej's National Record. Wilma Murto was still perfect and thus in the lead. 4.85m was the next height. After Šutej missed, returning bronze medalist Nina Kennedy cleared cleanly to improve upon her own National Record from 2021. Defending champion, Katie Moon brushed the bar on the way down, but the bar stayed up. When Murto could not clear on her first attempt, Kennedy and Moon were now tied. After Šutej, Caudery, and Murto used up their attempts, Murto's previously perfect round left her with the bronze medal. And the bar went up to for Kennedy and Moon. Neither could make it on their first two attempts. On her third attempt, Kennedy cleared for another National Record. Moon also cleared and the bar went up to 4.95m. Neither of them could negotiate the height in their three attempts.

After Moon missed, the officials spoke with the athletes. By rule, when a tie occurs for first place, a jump off is held, where they continue to jump at first the missed height, then the bar gets lowered until one misses and the other makes it. The athletes have the right to refuse to take any more jumps. With the story of Mutaz Essa Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi both refusing at 2020 Olympic high jump fresh in everyone's mind, it was assumed they would both refuse and accept the tie for first place. Katie Moon and Nina Kennedy together discussed the prospect of jumping at 4.95 again then agreed to accept shared gold medals followed by a hug.

Records Before the competition, records were as follows:

RecordAthlete & LocationDate World record5.06 mZürich, Switzerland28 August 2009Championship record5.01 mHelsinki, Finland12 August 2005World Leading4.90 mEugene, United States9 July 2023African Record4.42 mWesel, Germany12 June 2000Asian Record4.72 mShanghai, China18 May 2019North, Central American and Caribbean record5.02 mAlbuquerque, United States2 March 2013South American Record4.87 mSao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil3 July 2016European Record5.06 mZürich, Switzerland28 August 2009Oceanian record4.94 mJockgrim, Germany17 July 2018

Qualification standard The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 4.71 m.

Schedule The event schedule, in local time (UTC+2), was as follows:

Date Time Round21 August 18:40 Qualification23 August 19:30 Final

Results

Qualification

Qualification: 4.65 m (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q).

Rank Group Name Nationality 4.20 4.35 4.50 4.60 4.65 Mark Notes 1 A Katie Moon – – o o o 4.65 Q 1 A Robeilys Peinado – o o o o 4.65 Q, 1 A Wilma Murto – o o o o 4.65 Q 1 B Nina Kennedy – – o o o 4.65 Q 5 A Angelica Moser – o o xxo o 4.65 Q, 6 B Hana Moll o o o o xo 4.65 Q, 7 A Amálie Švábíková – o o xo xo 4.65 Q 8 A Sandi Morris – – xo xo xo 4.65 Q 8 B Bridget Williams – xo xo o xo 4.65 Q 10 B Tina Šutej – o o o xxo 4.65 Q 10 B Elisa Molinarolo o o o o xxo 4.65 Q, 12 B Molly Caudery – o xo o xxo 4.65 Q 13 A Li Ling o o xxo o xxx 4.60 14 A Ninon Chapelle – o o xo xxx 4.60 15 A Lene Retzius – xo xxo xxo xxx 4.60 16 A Niu Chunge – o o xx– x 4.50 17 A Michaela Meijer xo o o x– xx 4.50 18 A Alysha Newman – o xo xxx 4.50 18 A Imogen Ayris o o xo xxx 4.50 18 B Hanga Klekner o o xo xxx 4.50 21 B Margot Chevrier – xo xo xxx 4.50 22 B Elina Lampela o o xxo xxx 4.50 22 B Juliana Campos o o xxo xxx 4.50 24 A Anicka Newell o o xxx 4.35 24 A Caroline Bonde Holm o o xxx 4.35 24 A Olivia McTaggart – o xxx 4.35 27 A Anjuli Knäsche xo o xxx 4.35 28 A Eleni-Klaoudia Polak o xo xxx 4.35 29 A Holly Bradshaw – xxo x– xx 4.35 29 A Roberta Bruni o xxo xxx 4.35 29 A Elien Vekemans o xxo xxx 4.35 29 A Marie-Julie Bonnin – xxo xxx 4.35 B Xu Huiqin – xxx B Eliza McCartney – – xxx B Saga Andersson xxx B Katerina Stefanidi – – xxx A Mirè Reinstorf xxx

Final The final started on 23 August at 19:30.

Rank Name Nationality 4.30 4.50 4.65 4.75 4.80 4.85 4.90 4.95 Mark Notes Nina Kennedy – o o xo o o xxo xxx 4.90 =, Katie Moon – o o – xo o xxo xxx 4.90 = Wilma Murto – o o o o xxx 4.80 = 4 Tina Šutej o o o xo o xxx 4.80 NR 5 Molly Caudery xo o o xxo x– xx 4.75 5 Angelica Moser o o xo xxo xxx 4.75 = 7 Sandi Morris – o o xxx 4.65 8 Robeilys Peinado o o xo xxx 4.65 = 9 Elisa Molinarolo o o xxx 4.50 9 Hana Moll o o xxx 4.50 11 Amálie Švábíková xo o xxx 4.50 12 Bridget Williams o xo xxx 4.50

References