It's actually on the starting official. The vaulted had the right of way in this case. I can tell you from experience that he could care less about a distance race, especially when he is close to an American record. Bottom line is that is on the official. He should've delayed the start by a minute.
I don't know him but I would be willing to bet that he couldn't care less about a distance race.
I was really impressed with the vaulter's ability to refocus and clear the height with room to spare. Good on him for having the mental ability to compartmentalize and move forward after the mishap.
By the way, I'm a distance guy 100%, but I didn't get the feeling the vaulter was being a tool. He seemed more shocked at what happened than anything else.
And agreed, the officials dropped the ball on this one.
woah yeah that was a sh*tty thing to do. what a tool.
The official next to Sondre told him that they were going to hold the race until he jumped. It was communicated between the meet official and her. The starter just started the race too soon.
The look on Sondre's face when the Villanova guy ran into him was not of madness, but of pure shock. He had no clue what was going on- he was dialed in and focused on making his bar.
Also, they could have recalled the race seeing it was only 25m in of a 1200m leg. That would have been the correct thing to do. They have called back plenty of races for less.
I know someone on princeton track team who says he is super cool guy.
Just curious as to why people who don't like distance runners are on this sight?
I generally don’t like male distance runners. A lot of them, but obviously not all of them, are the biggest dbags in track & field. The women distance runners are a lot cooler and more easy going as are the others in the sport. It’s hard to explain why so many male distance guys are dicks.
The look on Sondre's face when the Villanova guy ran into him was not of madness, but of pure shock. He had no clue what was going on- he was dialed in and focused on making his bar.
This was my takeaway from viewing the video as well. He didn’t look pissed, more like “wtf?”
and I think the runner probably could have avoided him. He was standing in place, not in the process of wandering across the track.
Are people taking his celebration after the make as being directed at the runners? Dude is an intense competitor - he frequently looks like that in the heat of battle in important meets.
Who cares what he cleared if there a race going on the track then stay off the f***king track
Nobody cares about a distance race, but thousands will watch a pole vaulter. It's actually on the track official for starting rhe race. The guy has 2 minutes to jump and that is his space.
Nah, I don't really care much about distance races, but that was a major douche move and a failing by the officials. It's the national championship. Get the f off the track during a race.
The vaulter was constantly not paying attention. He is not the whole track meet no matter how good he is. Track etiquette means paying attention to events around you. I don’t care how cool he is to teammates. He compromised another event at the meet.
You could argue (poorly) that the runners should be dq'ed, as both the runners and the vaulters had priority on that strip of track, and the runners initiated contact.
How does meet management avoid an issue like this? The PV runway intentionally blends into the track, so that they can use the extended length. Once the prior person vaults, you have 2 minutes to jump. So, if all the vaulters use long run-ups, then there is pretty much always going to be someone standing on the track getting ready to jump. Some people might like to stand at their tape for a minute before going, in order to get in the right headspace. If that is part of the pole vault runway and they are on the clock, how are you going to tell them to move just because the starting official blew the gun even though the prior event was not finished.
You are trying to make confusion where there is none. If there's a race on the track, every person in the world knows that those runners have priority. Any attempt to argue otherwise is purely nonsense.