Rules Rules Rules

While at a competition pole vaulters have to know all of the different rules there are because the “rules” at practice is a lot different then what happens at the meets.

Basic rules: each vaulter gets 3 attempts at each height to clear the bar, failular to do so means the vaulter is out. Vaulters may not weigh the weight label on the pole for safety reasons.

Another basic and obvious change from practice to a competition is that instead of using a bungee, a bar is placed at specific heights. Bar comes down, it is not counted as a clear.

There are some weird rules that have to do with the bar though. If a vaulter were to hit the bar and it come up and flip but still land back it counts as a pass, as long as it doesn’t flip more than 3 times. Also if the pole were to come back hit the bar it would count as a clear as long it doesn’t push off the bar. Sometimes (depending on the judge) if the vaulter makes an attempt to push the pole back and the wind still blows it into the bar and knocks it down, it would count as a clear.

Another rule that is not well known (at least among the high school level) is that a vaulter have 2 minutes to complete there jump from the time that their name is called. If they do not jump within the time frame it is counted as a miss. The only times the 2 minute rule really happens in at state in the high school level, college, and pro.

All the rules that seem awkward, get extremely easy to follow when vaulting. How the vault works, makes these rules easy to follow, unless the vaulter is not vaulting correctly. What everyone needs to realize is that the rules are there for a vaulters safety not to infringe on the way they pole vault.