Speaking pole vault ways with Katie Moon
In a distance race there are all the time questions on ways. Must an athlete run from the entrance or must they are trying to win with a superbly timed past due run to the road? There’s no proper and incorrect resolution. The ways in Pole Vault are difficult too. At what peak to go into the contest? Then whether or not to take each bar or to avoid wasting power by means of skipping a bar. Within the first article, Katie talked in regards to the demanding situations of a protracted championship festival whilst you may transparent a bar and wait 45 mins prior to it’s your flip once more. That provides to the intrigue!
Katie Moon gained the Olympic silver medal, including to her Olympic gold from Tokyo and a couple of International Championship golds , photograph by means of International Athletics
Within the Paris Olympics within the qualification spherical Molly Caudery, a 4:90 jumper, entered the contest at 4:55, didn’t transparent it and used to be out. Each and every different athlete had entered the contest on the decrease peak, Was once it only a dangerous day on the place of job or used to be it an error of judgment? We can have critiques however best Molly is aware of the solution and I haven’t spoken to her about it!
I used to be all in favour of Katie’s manner and whether or not she has a peak at which she all the time is available in: “No, it really just depends how the season is going and how I am feeling on the day. I’ve come in anywhere from 4:40 to 4:60 and I even I once opened at 4:70. So it really just depends on each meet. Each warm up is going to tell you something different on that particular day. Hindsight’s 2020, right? In championships, especially in Olympics, I am aware that there’s just so much more emotion and adrenaline. Personally, I like to err slightly on the side of caution, but still keeping it close to what I normally come in. I usually come in about 4:50. So it’s a toss up: do I come in five centimetres higher 10 centimetres lower? When you look at it on a metre stick 5 cm is nothing.
Katie Moon, 2023 Budapest, photo courtesy of World Athletics
“For me 4:20 doesn’t make sense because 4.20 and 4.40 are going to feel like the exact same bar when I have a certain pole in my hand. Once you get up above 4.50, then there’s a little less room for error. I’ve come in above 4.50 more than once, but it really just requires you to be on your game. With the emotion of the championship, me personally, I like to err on the side of caution and choose the lower bar, if I’m between 2 starting heights”.
Within the Paris Olympic ultimate the outlet bar used to be 4.40 and 18 or 19 vaulters began at 4:40 with simply Eliza McCartney looking forward to 4.60. “Yeah, I thought that was interesting”, Katie stated, “especially just with how the prelim had gone but, you know, at the end of the day, it really is just when you warm up, it’s about feeling comfortable on the runway, and also figuring out which pole to start on. So figuring out which height to come in at in pole vault is one big equation! It is also the case that if you’re gripping high on a big pole, you’re going to be so high in the air that whether it’s 4.40-4.50, 4.60 or 4.70, you’re going to be over that bar”.
Katie Moon, 2023 WC Budapest, photograph courtesy of International Athletics
You concept it used to be with regards to grabbing a pole and working down the runway – however there may be numerous various things to take into accounts!
I take into accout as soon as Blanca Vlasic telling me that she had by no means cleared 2m in coaching and had by no means tried it as a result of follow used to be all about method and self belief. I questioned if it used to be the similar in pole vault. “I actually very rarely do that [attempt high bars] because in training I’m on much, much smaller poles. Just really repping out the technique, so I am going to be jumping much lower. But just by dialling that in, when I get into a competition and have the adrenaline and get on the pole, that makes sense for how I’m moving that day. I’ll be much higher in the air. But, yeah, in training, I’m jumping significantly lower because I can’t quite muster up that adrenaline and meet sensation. And to be honest, I very rarely know where the bar actually is. A lot of times Brad [Brad Walker her coach] will throw it up to something and I would never actually clear it because I’m hitting it on the way up, but it’s really just about getting that confidence, getting off the ground the same way every time. And then when I go to a meet, that’s when good things happen”.
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