Yesterday, I provided some comparisons of Stacy Dragila's contributions to
the world vault record progression with those of other leading women.
A reply asked,
>stacey is erasing many of the men's marks...where does she stand now in
>relation to bragg, richards, etc....
Others might be interested in the answer:
(Incidentally, TV coverage of the Stanford meets showed that I should have
credited her with two record performances, not one. Although the CBS
announcers garbled, as usual, the imperial/metric conversions, it would
seem that her penultimate height was 4.71m; that, too, bettering her
previous record of 4.70m.)
Stacy has not yet eclipsed any of the men's marks that were set with
fiberglass poles. That said, though, she is getting very, very close.
Her winning height (4.81/15'9 1/4") is the first vault by a woman that
betters Cornelius Warmerdam's best (4.77/15'7 3/4"), set on bamboo. It also
eclipsed the subsequent records of Bob Gutkowski (4.78/15'8 1/4") and Don
Bragg (4.80/15'9/1/4"), both set with metal poles. Just so you won't lose a
bar bet on a bit of trivia, it should be noted that Stacy's best still is a
centimeter short of Gutkowski's metal-pole best, the 4.82 at Austin that
was not ratified because an over-eager official knocked the bar off before
the record could be re-measured.
Other comparisons with men's performances: Stacy's eight record
improvements are one more than those of Warmerdam, one less than John
Pennel. Her 21cm in record improvements compares with 23cm for Warmerdam,
49cm for Pennel. (Again, beware of bar bets: Pennel's "streak" was
interspersed with 10 record performances of four other vaulters.) Bob
Richards, although dominating the event in the 1950s with 124 clearances
over 15', never held the world record. Stacy's first record of yesterday's
meet bettered Richard's best by one-half inch. Finally, the standard for
total number of world record vaults was set by Sergey Bubka, with 17.
Bubka, the ultimate master of nudging the bar upward while collecting world
record bonuses, improved the record by only 31cm over-all.
Cheers,
Roger
I'll copy on part of the men's progression, beginning with Warmerdam's
first 15-foot vault.
4.57 (15') Cornelius Warmerdam USA 1940-04-13 Berkeley
4.60 (15'1 1/8) Cornelius Warmerdam USA 1940-06-29 Fresno
4.64 (15'2 5/8") Cornelius Warmerdam USA 1941-04-12 Stanford
4.68 (15'4 1/4") Cornelius Warmerdam USA 1941-06-06 Compton
4.72 (15'5 3/4") Cornelius Warmerdam USA 1941-06-06 Compton
4.74 (15'6 7/8") Cornelius Warmerdam USA 1942-05-02 Berkeley
4.77 (15'7 3/4") Cornelius Warmerdam USA 1942-05-23 Modesto
4.78 (15'8 1/4") Robert Gutowski USA 1957-04-27 Stanford
4.82 (15'9 3/4") Robert Gutowski USA 1957-06-15 Austin
4.80 (15'9 1/4") Donald Bragg USA 1960-07-02 Stanford
4.83 (15'10 1/4") George Davies USA 1961-05-20 Boulder
4.89 (16' 3/4") John Uelses USA 1962-03-31 Santa Barbara
4.93 (16'2") Dave Tork USA 1962-04-28 Walnut
4.94 Pentti Nikula FIN 1962-06-22 Kauhava
4.95 (16'3") John Pennel USA 1963-03-23 Memphis
4.98 (16'4") John Pennel USA 1963-04-10 Natchitoches
5.00 (16'5") Brian Sternberg USA 1963-04-27 Philadelphia
5.05 (16'6 3/4") John Pennel USA 1963-04-30 Monroe
5.05 (16'7") Brian Sternberg USA 1963-05-25 Modesto
5.08 (16'8") Brian Sternberg USA 1963-06-07 Compton
5.10 (16'8 3/4") John Pennel USA 1963-07-13 London
5.10 John Pennel USA 1963-07-26 Warsaw
5.13 (16'10 1/4") John Pennel USA 1963-08-05 London
5.20 (17' 3/4") John Pennel USA 1963-08-24 Coral Gables
5.20 (17'1") Fred Hansen USA 1964-06-05 Houston
5.23 (17'2") Fred Hansen USA 1964-06-13 San Diego
5.28 (17'4") Fred Hansen USA 1964-07-25 Los Angeles
5.32 (17'5 1/2") Robert Seagren USA 1966-05-14 Fresno
5.35 (17'6 3/4") John Pennel USA 1966-07-12 Pasadena
5.34 (17'6 1/4) John Pennel USA 1966-07-23 Los Angeles
5.36 (17'7") Robert Seagren USA 1967-06-10 San Diego
5.38 (17'7 3/4") Paul Wilson USA 1967-06-23 Bakersfield
5.41 (17'9") Robert Seagren USA 1968-09-12 Echo Summit
5.44 (17'10") John Pennel USA 1969-06-21 Sacramento
5.45 Wolfgang Nordwig GDR 1970-06-17 Berlin
5.46 Wolfgang Nordwig GDR 1970-09-03 Torino
5.49 Christos Papanikolaou GRE 1970-10-24 Athens
5.51 Kjell Isaksson SWE 1972-04-15 Austin
5.54 Kjell Isaksson SWE 1972-04-15 Los Angeles
5.59 Robert Seagren USA 1972-05-23 El Paso
5.59 Kjell Isaksson SWE 1972-05-23 El Paso
5.55 Kjell Isaksson SWE 1972-06-12 Helsingborg
5.63 Robert Seagren USA 1972-07-02 Eugene
5.65 David Roberts USA 1975-03-28 Gainesville
5.67 (18'7 1/4") Earl Bell USA 1976-05-29 Wichita
5.70 David Roberts USA 1976-06-22 Eugene
5.71 (18'8 3/4") Michael Tully USA 1978-05-19 Corvallis
5.72 Wladyslaw Kozakiewicz POL 1980-05-11 Milan
5.75 Thierry Vigneron FRA 1980-06-01 Colombes
5.75 Thierry Vigneron FRA 1980-06-29 Lille
5.77 Philippe Houvion FRA 1980-07-17 Paris
5.78 Wladyslaw Kozakiewicz POL 1980-07-30 Moscow
5.80 Thierry Vigneron FRA 1981-06-20 Macon
5.81 Vladimir Polyakov URS 1981-06-26 Tbilisi
5.82 Pierre Quinon FRA 1983-08-28 Cologne
5.83 Thierry Vigneron FRA 1983-09-01 Rome
5.85 Sergey Bubka URS 1984-05-26 Bratislava
5.88 Sergey Bubka URS 1984-06-02 Paris
5.90 Sergey Bubka URS 1984-07-13 London
5.91 Thierry Vigneron FRA 1984-08-31 Rome
5.94 Sergey Bubka URS 1984-08-31 Rome
6.00 Sergey Bubka URS 1985-07-13 Paris
6.01 Sergey Bubka URS 1986-07-08 Moscow
6.03 Sergey Bubka URS 1987-06-23 Prague
6.05 Sergey Bubka URS 1988-06-09 Bratislava
6.06 Sergey Bubka URS 1988-07-10 Nice
6.07 Sergey Bubka URS 1991-05-06 Shizuoka
6.08 Sergey Bubka URS 1991-06-09 Moscow
6.09 Sergey Bubka URS 1991-07-08 Formia
6.10 Sergey Bubka URS 1991-08-05 Malmo
6.11 Sergey Bubka UKR 1992-06-13 Dijon
6.12 Sergey Bubka UKR 1992-08-30 Padova
6.13 Sergey Bubka UKR 1992-09-19 Tokyo
6.14 Sergey Bubka UKR 1994-07-31 Sestriere
Marks shown in boldface font are those approved by the IAAF as official
world records. Reasons for non-approval (after the IAAF assumed
jurisdiction in 1912) range from substantial (over-length crossbar) to
trivial (paperwork wasn't complete before a higher mark was attained). As
example of the latter reason, neither Warmerdam's first 15' vault nor his
first 4.60m became "official" world records.
