With major outdoor meets over for the season, I've done my usual update
on women's national vault records. I'll send that along as a separate
post. I was somewhat surprised to find only 23 records improved, among
the 124 countries I've filed women's records for.
I thought that seemed fewer than usual in this fast-developing event,
so I checked last year's changes and found there were 44 improvements
then, nearly twice the number.
Was it just something to do with the women's vault? One way to check
that was to look at changes in the men's vault NRs this season and
last. I don't keep as careful men's lists as women's, but I do file
men's national vault records for 235 countries (thanks largely to
Winfried Kramer's National Athletics Records). I was able to find
improvements for only five countries in this season, compared with 14
in 2005.
So, I would say that at the elite levels for most countries, 2006 was a
disappointing season for the pole vault. Was it for other events? For
most other events? I don't have the data resources to answer that
question. I'd appreciate an answer from someone with a more general
overview of the track and field events; even an opinion.
Cheers,
Roger
