# 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships – Men's pole vault

The men's pole vault at the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships took place on March 17, 2016.
The men's and women's pole vault competition were the only events on the opening day. They were conducted simultaneously with two parallel runways down the center of the arena. The runways were at floor level, unlike the more common raised runways which is a more dangerous situation; one which resulted in the injury to Renaud Lavillenie minutes after setting the world record two years earlier. It was that injury that prevented Lavillenie from defending his world indoor title at the previous championship, but he was back this year with the world leading jump going into the competition.
Of the 14 competitors, six had already left the competition before Lavillenie even bothered to make his first attempt at 5.75, 2 hours into the competition. All of the competitors in this field had cleared 5.75, most of them this season, but no other had the confidence to wait until 5.75 for their opening height. Piotr Lisek had already cleared the height, but he already had a miss earlier in the competition, so with his easy clearance, shrugging before landing in the pit, Lavillenie was immediately in the lead. Jan Kudlička and Shawn Barber struggled to clear on their third attempt. That would be the best those other jumpers would achieve. Sam Kendricks was still perfect in the competition to that point but had sat out 5.75. He remained perfect at 5.80 to take the lead while Lavillenie confidently passed and the others failed. Kendricks failed at his first attempt at 5.85, Barber and Lisek also saved one heroic attempt for 5.85, while Lavillenie remained on the sidelines. Kendricks then passed to 5.90 and failed again. Lavillenie then picked up his pole, almost 45 minutes after his first attempt and cleared the bar in only his second attempt of the evening. Kendricks took one final attempt to stay in the competition but had to settle for silver. Lavillenie continued, moving the bar to 6.02 he rattled the bar on his way down but it stayed on the pegs and he remained perfect in the competition. Lavillenie then had the bar raised another half a foot to world record height 6.17 m (20 ft 2+3⁄4 in), though none of the attempts were close.

## Records

Standing records prior to the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships :
| World record | Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) | 6.16 | Donetsk, Ukraine | 15 February 2014 |
| Championship record | Steven Hooker (AUS) | 6.01 | Doha, Qatar | 13 March 2010 |
| World Leading | Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) | 6.03 | Jablonec nad Nisou, Czech Republic | 5 March 2016 |
| African record | Okkert Brits (RSA) | 5.90 | Liévin, France | 16 February 1997 |
| African record | Okkert Brits (RSA) | 5.90 | Toronto, Canada | 1 June 1997 |
| Asian record | Igor Potapovich (KAZ) | 5.92 | Stockholm, Sweden | 19 February 1998 |
| European record | Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) | 6.16 | Donetsk, Ukraine | 15 February 2014 |
| North and Central American and Caribbean record | Jeff Hartwig (USA) | 6.02 | Sindelfingen, Germany | 10 March 2002 |
| Oceanian Record | Steven Hooker (AUS) | 6.06 | Boston, United States | 7 February 2009 |
| South American record | Thiago Braz (BRA) | 5.93 | Berlin, Germany | 13 February 2016 |

## Qualification standards

| Indoor | Outdoor |
| 5.77 ||

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| 17 March 2016 | 19:05 | Final |

## Results

The final was started at 19:05.
| Rank | Name | Nationality | 5.40 | 5.55 | 5.65 | 5.75 | 5.80 | 5.85 | 5.90 | 6.02 | 6.17 | Result | Notes |
| | Renaud Lavillenie | France | – | – | – | o | – | – | o | o | xxx | 6.02 | CR |
| | Sam Kendricks | United States | o | o | o | – | o | x– | xx | | | 5.80 | |
| | Piotr Lisek | Poland | – | o | xo | o | xx– | x | | | | 5.75 | |
| 4 | Jan Kudlička | Czech Republic | o | – | xxo | xxo | xxx | | | | | 5.75 | |
| 4 | Shawnacy Barber | Canada | – | o | xxo | xxo | xx– | x | | | | 5.75 | |
| 6 | Robert Sobera | Poland | o | – | o | xxx | | | | | | 5.65 | |
| 7 | Konstantinos Filippidis | Greece | xo | o | xo | xxx | | | | | | 5.65 | |
| 8 | Mike Arnold | United States | o | xxo | xxo | xxx | | | | | | 5.65 | |
| 9 | Michal Balner | Czech Republic | o | o | xxx | | | | | | | 5.55 | |
| 10 | Seito Yamamoto | Japan | xo | o | xxx | | | | | | | 5.55 | |
| 10 | Carlo Paech | Germany | xo | o | xxx | | | | | | | 5.55 | |
| 12 | Jérôme Clavier | France | o | xo | xxx | | | | | | | 5.55 | |
| 12 | Thiago Braz da Silva | Brazil | – | xo | – | xx– | x | | | | | 5.55 | |
| 14 | Augusto Dutra de Oliveira | Brazil | xo | xxx | | | | | | | | 5.40 | |