I just mentioned waiting for Mondo and the world record. I'm not especially prophetic. This is Duplantis. Get used to it.
It was apparently happening at just about the time I was posting. This is a pattern. He is going to take it 1cm higher each time, because he gets a contractual bonus each time he sets it. If you look at his clearance, he can definitely go higher.
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Fireworks?? Rock music and Adulation? What happened, did pole vaulting join the WWF or something? Is he going to rip his shirt off next time? Amazing to watch though...
Professional track and field is trying to make their people rock stars, yes. It's sort of working for the very top performers.
Sergi Bubka became the pole vault rock star in the 90s, when he was the first to clear 20 feet. His endorsement bonuses were such that he was very judicious about setting new records by the absolute minimums (to cash in each time), and IIRC, timing exactly when and where he cleared 20 for the first time, for maximum impact and revenue.
Yes Bubka did that and I'm sure Mondo does it too. But it's more complicated that that too. It's way more complicated than just getting high enough. I've seen many jumps were a vaulter reached a peak way higher than the bar but it was too early or too late. Think about all the variables involved in getting yourself to your maximum height at the end of an 16 foot pole at the exact right spot in three dimensions. So just because you clear by 6 inches doesn't guarantee a clearance when you raise the bar three inches.
That is what I have long been told, though I have never vaulted myself. There is a lot coming to a point, quite literally, at the top of a vault, and the key is to have enough muscle memory from repetition that one can concentrate on a very few things in those split-seconds. But of course if you keep going higher, the muscle memory is not quite the same at the new height.
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