Sam Kendricks Talks About Joining 6-Meter Club in Pole Vault, Being Most Efficient Vaulter in the World
by LetsRun.com
June 24, 2017
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sam Kendricks became the 20th member of the 6-meter club as he cleared 6.00m on his second attempt to win the USA nationals today.
Coming in, Kendricks said he was worried about the heat, but said the officials and volunteers did a wonderful job of taking care of everyone.
He said this was one of the most enjoyable vault competitions he’s ever competed in and was praising the guys behind him for going high.
Kendricks also praised 17-year-old Armand “Mondo” Duplantis for raising the bar (literally) for everyone else this year. Until Kendricks’ jump, Duplantis was the world leader at 5.90.
Kendricks now is in elite company and he knew it saying, “It’s a career point. Every great jumper in history had at least one six meters jump.”
Kendricks also said he had longer poles in his bag today that he didn’t use. He said he set a world record in pole vault efficiency today.
“I actually set a world record today in the distance of efficiency for a pole vaulter jumping 6 meters (on 4.90 poles). That is one of the proudest moments for me and my father (Scott, who is his coach)…Be the most efficient, be the most professional pole vaulter we can be.”
| PLACE | ATHLETE | RESULT | 5.40 17-8 ½ |
5.50 18-0 ½ |
5.60 18-4 ½ |
5.65 18-6 ½ |
5.70 18-8 ¼ |
5.75 18-10 ¼ |
5.80 19-0 ¼ |
5.85 19-2 ¼ |
5.91 19-4 ¾ |
6.00 19-8 ¼ |
POS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Kendricks
Nike
|
6.00
19-8 ¼
|
O | O | O | O | O | O | O | PPP | O | XO | 12 | |
| 2 | Andrew Irwin
Arkansas Vault Club
|
5.75
18-10 ¼
|
XO | XXO | O | O | O | O | XXX | 15 | ||||
| 3 | Chris Nilsen
South Dakota
|
5.75
18-10 ¼
|
XO | XXO | O | O | O | XO | XXX | 6 | ||||
| 4 | Devin King
Unattached
|
5.70
18-8 ¼
|
XO | XXO | XO | XPP | XO | XXX | 4 | |||||
| 5 | Scott Houston
Shore AC
|
5.65
18-6 ½
|
O | O | XPP | O | XPP | XX | 8 | |||||
| 6 | Audie Wyatt
Texas A&M
|
5.60
18-4 ½
|
O | O | O | XXX | 3 | |||||||
| 7 | Logan Cunningham
Unattached
|
5.60
18-4 ½
|
O | XO | O | XXX | 11 | |||||||
| 8 | Tray Oates
Samford
|
5.60
18-4 ½
|
XO | O | XXO | XPP | XX | 13 | ||||||
| 9 | Jeffrey Coover
Unattached
|
5.50
18-0 ½
|
XO | O | XXX | 16 | ||||||||
| 10 | Jacob Albright
Unattached
|
5.40
17-8 ½
|
O | XXX | 2 | |||||||||
| 11 | Chris Pillow
Unattached
|
5.40
17-8 ½
|
XO | XXX | 7 | |||||||||
| 12 | Cale Simmons
U.S. Air Force
|
5.40
17-8 ½
|
XXO | PPP | XXX | 9 | ||||||||
| Kyle Pater
Unattached
|
NH | XXX | 1 | |||||||||||
| John Prader
Unattached
|
NH | XXX | 5 | |||||||||||
| Luke Winder
North Central (IL)
|
NH | XXX | 10 | |||||||||||
| Victor Weirich
Unattached
|
NH | XXX | 14 | |||||||||||
| Deakin Volz
Virginia Tech
|
NH | XXX | 17 | |||||||||||
| Matt Ludwig
Akron
|
NH | XXX | 18 | |||||||||||