Men's pole vault world record progression should not be confused with Men's pole vault indoor world record progression.
The first world record in the men's pole vault was recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations in 1912.[1]
As of June 21, 2009, 71 world records have been ratified by the IAAF (now World Athletics) in the event. Since 2000, World Athletics makes no distinction between indoor and outdoor settings when establishing pole vault world records. This new rule was not applied retroactively. The introduction in the early 1950s of flexible vaulting poles made from composites such as fiberglass or carbon fiber allowed vaulters to achieve greater height.[1] [2] [3] The present record of was set by Armand Duplantis, competing for Sweden at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
| Ratified | ||
| Not ratified | ||
| Ratified but later rescinded | ||
| Pending ratification |
| Mark | Athlete | Nation | Venue | Date | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Francis Temple | Woolwich | October 6, 1849[4] | 1 | |||
| Robert Mitchell | London | June 19, 1868 | 1 | |||
| Edwin Woodburn | Newton | August 31, 1872 | 1 | |||
| Lancaster | June 2, 1873 | 2 | ||||
| William Kelsey | Sheffield | July 7, 1873 | 1 | |||
| John Wigfull | 1 | |||||
| Edwin Woodburn | London | March 30, 1874 | 3 | |||
| John Wigfull | Sheffield | July 5, 1875 | 2 | |||
| A. Hammond | Bury St.Edmunds | March 30, 1876 | 1 | |||
| Edwin Woodburn | Ulverston | July 21, 1876 | 4 | |||
| Thomas Ray | September 19, 1879 | 1 | ||||
| Birmingham | July 16, 1881 | 2 | ||||
| Bradford | August 12, 1882 | 3 | ||||
| Nottingham | June 16, 1883 | 4 | ||||
| Preston | August 18, 1883 | 5 | ||||
| Grasmere | August 20, 1885 | 6 | ||||
| Whitehaven | August 13, 1886 | 7 | ||||
| Grasmere | August 18, 1887 | 8 | ||||
| Whitehaven | August 19, 1887 | 9 | ||||
| Ernest Stones | Southport | June 2, 1888 | 1 | |||
| Thomas Ray | Barrow | September 22, 1888 | 10 | |||
| Ernest Stones | Grasmere | August 23, 1889 | 2 | |||
| Richard Dickenson | Kidderminster | July 4, 1891 | 1 | |||
| Raymond Clapp | Chicago | June 16, 1898 | 1 | |||
| Norman Dole | Berkeley | April 23, 1904 | 1 | |||
| Fernand Gonder | Paris | June 26, 1904 | 1 | |||
| Gradignan | June 4, 1905 | 2 | ||||
| Leroy Samse | Chicago | June 2, 1906 | 1 | |||
| Walter Dray | New Haven | May 18, 1907 | 1 | |||
| Philadelphia | April 25, 1908 | 2 | ||||
| Alfred Gilbert | June 6, 1908 | 1 | ||||
| New Haven | June 12, 1908 | 2 | ||||
| Walter Dray | Danbury | June 13, 1908 | 3 | |||
| Leland Scott | Berkeley | April 30, 1910 | 1 | |||
| Boulder | May 27, 1910 | 2 | ||||
| Robert Gardner | Philadelphia | June 1, 1912 | 1 | |||
| Marc Wright | Cambridge, U.S. | June 8, 1912 | 1 | |||
| Frank Foss | Antwerp, Belgium | August 20, 1920 | 1 | |||
| Charles Hoff | Copenhagen, Denmark | September 22, 1922 | 1 | |||
| July 22, 1923 | 2 | |||||
| Oslo, Norway | August 13, 1925 | 3 | ||||
| Turku, Finland | September 27, 1925 | 4 | ||||
| Sabin Carr | Philadelphia, U.S. | May 28, 1927 | 1 | |||
| Lee Barnes | Fresno, U.S. | April 28, 1928 | 1 | |||
| William Graber | Palo Alto, U.S. | July 16, 1932 | 1 | |||
| Keith Brown | Boston, U.S. | June 1, 1935 | 1 | |||
| George Varoff | Princeton, New Jersey, U.S. | July 4, 1936 | 1 | |||
| Bill Sefton | Los Angeles, U.S. | May 29, 1937 | 1 | |||
| Earle Meadows | 1 | |||||
| Cornelius Warmerdam | Fresno, U.S. | June 29, 1940 | 1 | |||
| Compton, U.S. | June 26, 1941 | 2 | ||||
| Modesto, U.S. | May 23, 1942 | 3 | ||||
| Robert Gutowski | Palo Alto, U.S. | April 27, 1957 | 1 | |||
| Don Bragg | July 2, 1960 | 1 | ||||
| George Davies | Boulder, U.S. | May 20, 1961 | 1 | |||
| John Uelses | Santa Barbara, U.S. | March 31, 1962 | 1 | |||
| Dave Tork | Walnut, U.S. | April 28, 1962 | 1 | |||
| Pentti Nikula | Kauhava, Finland | June 22, 1962 | 1 | |||
| Brian Sternberg | Philadelphia, U.S. | April 27, 1963 | 1 | |||
| Compton, U.S. | June 7, 1963 | 2 | ||||
| John Pennel | London, England | August 5, 1963 | 1 | |||
| Coral Gables, U.S. | August 24, 1963 | 2 | ||||
| Fred Hansen | San Diego, U.S. | June 13, 1964 | 1 | |||
| Los Angeles, U.S. | July 25, 1964 | 2 | ||||
| Bob Seagren | Fresno, U.S. | May 14, 1966 | 1 | |||
| John Pennel | Los Angeles, U.S. | July 23, 1966 | 3 | |||
| Bob Seagren | San Diego, U.S. | June 10, 1967 | 2 | |||
| Paul Wilson | Bakersfield, U.S. | June 23, 1967 | 1 | |||
| Bob Seagren | Echo Summit, U.S. | September 12, 1968 | 3 | |||
| John Pennel | Sacramento, U.S. | June 21, 1969 | 4 | |||
| Wolfgang Nordwig | Berlin, Germany | June 17, 1970 | 1 | |||
| Turin, Italy | September 3, 1970 | 2 | ||||
| Christos Papanikolaou | Athens, Greece | October 24, 1970 | 1 | |||
| Kjell Isaksson | Austin, U.S. | April 8, 1972 | 1 | |||
| Los Angeles, U.S. | April 15, 1972 | 2 | ||||
| Helsingborg, Sweden | June 12, 1972 | 3 | ||||
| Bob Seagren | Eugene, U.S. | July 2, 1972 | 4 | |||
| David Roberts | Gainesville, U.S. | March 28, 1975 | 1 | |||
| Earl Bell | Wichita, U.S. | May 29, 1976 | 1 | |||
| David Roberts | Eugene, U.S. | June 22, 1976 | 2 | |||
| Władysław Kozakiewicz | Milan, Italy | May 11, 1980 | 1 | |||
| Thierry Vigneron | Paris, France | June 1, 1980 | 1 | |||
| Lille, France | June 29, 1980 | 2 | ||||
| Philippe Houvion | Paris, France | July 17, 1980 | 1 | |||
| Władysław Kozakiewicz | Moscow, Soviet Union | July 30, 1980 | 2 | |||
| Thierry Vigneron | Mâcon, France | June 20, 1981 | 3 | |||
| Vladimir Polyakov | Tbilisi, Soviet Union | June 26, 1981 | 1 | |||
| Pierre Quinon | Cologne, Germany | August 28, 1983 | 1 | |||
| Thierry Vigneron | Rome, Italy | September 1, 1983 | 4 | |||
| Sergey Bubka | Bratislava, Czechoslovakia | May 26, 1984 | 1 | |||
| Paris, France | June 2, 1984 | 2 | ||||
| London, England | July 13, 1984 | 3 | ||||
| Thierry Vigneron | Rome, Italy | August 31, 1984 | 5 | |||
| Sergey Bubka | 4 | |||||
| Paris, France | July 13, 1985 | 5 | ||||
| Moscow, Soviet Union | July 8, 1986 | 6 | ||||
| Prague, Czechoslovakia | June 23, 1987 | 7 | ||||
| Bratislava, Czechoslovakia | June 9, 1988 | 8 | ||||
| Nice, France | July 10, 1988 | 9 | ||||
| Shizuoka, Japan | May 6, 1991 | 10 | ||||
| Moscow, Soviet Union | June 9, 1991 | 11 | ||||
| Formia, Italy | July 8, 1991 | 12 | ||||
| Malmö, Sweden | August 5, 1991 | 13 | ||||
| Dijon, France | June 13, 1992 | 14 | ||||
| Padua, Italy | August 30, 1992 | 15 | ||||
| Tokyo, Japan | September 19, 1992 | 16 | ||||
| Sestriere, Italy | July 31, 1994 | 17 | ||||
| [5] | Renaud Lavillenie | Donetsk, Ukraine | February 15, 2014 | 1 | ||
| Armand Duplantis | Toruń, Poland | February 8, 2020 | 1 | |||
| Glasgow, UK | February 15, 2020 | 2 | ||||
| Belgrade, Serbia | March 7, 2022 | 3 | ||||
| March 20, 2022 | 4 | |||||
| Eugene, U.S. | July 24, 2022 | 5 | ||||
| Clermont-Ferrand, France | February 25, 2023 | 6 | ||||
| Eugene, U.S. | September 17, 2023 | 7 | ||||
| Xiamen, China | April 20, 2024 | 8 | ||||
| Paris, France | August 5, 2024 | 9 | ||||
| Notes: | ||||||