Six Meter High website

Equations for the Pole Vault

Speed, height and efficiency. Peter McGinnis and Dave Nielson shared this with me a long time ago. You can't fill this in, but we'll work on this together and put your data in. In the meantime, put on your mathcaps and use these 'simpler' equations if you want:

• For high school students: Ht = 0.825v - 2.869, where Ht is your vaulting height in meters and v is your runway velocity in meters/second

• For elite males: Ht = 0.61v - 0.85, Ht and v defined as above

• For elite females: Ht = 0.87v - 2.73, Ht and v defined as above

• To convert Ht in meters to feet, multiply by 3.281, the whole number is feet. Then take the remainder and multiply by 12 to get the inches.

• Example, say Ht = 4.55 meters. 4.55 x 3.281 = 14.93 (the whole number, 14 = 14 feet). Take the remainer, 0.93 x 12 =11. So 4.55 m ~ 14'-11".

Equations for Training

Below are some guidelines for speed, strength and jump that are, anecdotally related to corresponding pole vault heights. That is, if you want to vault the height given in the left-most column, you should be able to run, jump and lift what is shown in the corresponding row. Fact of the matter is, most of you have pole vaulted much higher than the corresponding run, jump and lift numbers in the row.