# 2022 World Athletics Championships – Men's pole vault

The men's pole vault at the 2022 World Athletics Championships was held at the Hayward Field in Eugene on 22 and 24 July 2022. The winning margin was 0.27 metres which as of 2024 is the only time the men's pole vault has been won by more than 0.2 metres at these championships.

## Summary

The script was written 15 years before 2020 Olympic Champion and World Record holder Armand Duplantis was born. At the time, Sergey Bubka was the dominant pole vaulter. He would go to meets offering large bonuses for a world record, or a major championship. Step 1) get the feel of the runway while the other competitors max out. 2) set the bar to one centimeter above the world record. 3) fly over the bar. 4) collect the money and go home. During that period, Armand's father and coach (along with his mother Helena), Greg Duplantis was sometimes one of those other vaulters, watching. Years later, Yelena Isinbayeva made a career of doing the same thing. The world never got to articulate how good these athletes were at their best, only how good they needed to be to collect the bonus.
There was a $100,000 bonus for setting a World Record at these Championships. It took 5.75m to get into the final. There, 7 got over 5.80m with Duplantis and 2012 Olympic Champion / former World Record holder Renaud Lavillenie both passing. At 5.87m it was down to 7, with Duplantis and Chris Nilsen missing their first attempts, putting first attempt clearance by Ernest John Obiena and 2016 Olympic Champion Thiago Braz into a tie for the lead. At 5.94m, Duplantis and Nilsen cleared on their first attempts to take back the lead after Obiena missed his first attempt before clearing on his second to improve his own Asian record. Braz missed his first two and passed to try to make one last attempt at 6 metres. Duplantis cleared 6 with ease, the others had maxed out, Nilsen left with silver, Obiena bronze. Competition over, next Duplantis had to deal with records, first the Championship record, formerly 6.05m by Dmitri Markov from 2001. He flew over that one. With his name cemented into the record book, the next step, a big step, was the World Record. Duplantis had the bar set at 6.21 m (20 ft 4+1⁄4 in). His first time down the runway, it wasn't right. He aborted the remains of the attempt going under the bar. On his second attempt, he flew over the bar. It was time to celebrate, collect the medal and the paycheck. Duplantis took no further attempts.
The World Record bettered his own world record set indoors by winning the Indoor World Championships on the same script. It also bettered his own outdoor world record of 6.16m set at the BAUHAUS-galan meet in Stockholm less than a month earlier.

## Records

Before the competition records were as follows:
| Record | Athlete & Nat. | Perf. | Location | Date |
| World record | Armand Duplantis (SWE) | 6.20 m (i) | Belgrade, Serbia | 20 March 2022 |
| Championship record | Dmitri Markov (AUS) | 6.05 m | Edmonton, Canada | 9 August 2001 |
| World Leading | Armand Duplantis (SWE) | 6.16 m | Stockholm, Sweden | 30 June 2022 |
| African Record | Okkert Brits (RSA) | 6.03 m | Cologne, Germany | 18 August 1995 |
| Asian Record | Ernest John Obiena (PHI) | 5.93 m | Innsbruck, Austria | 11 September 2021 |
| North, Central American and Caribbean record | Sam Kendricks (USA) | 6.06 m | Des Moines, United States | 27 July 2019 |
| South American Record | Thiago Braz (BRA) | 6.03 m | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 15 August 2016 |
| European Record | Armand Duplantis (SWE) | 6.20 m (i) | Belgrade, Serbia | 20 March 2022 |
| Oceanian record | Steven Hooker (AUS) | 6.06 m (i) | Boston, United States | 7 February 2009 |

## Qualification standard

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 5.80 m.

## Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC−7), was as follows:
| Date | Time | Round |
| 22 July | 17:05 | Qualification |
| 24 July | 17:25 | Final |

## Results
### Qualification

The heats will start on 22 July at 17:05. Qualification: 5.80 m (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q).
| Rank | Group | Name | Nationality | 5.30 | 5.50 | 5.65 | 5.75 | Mark | Notes |
| 1 | A | Armand Duplantis | Sweden (SWE) | – | – | o | o | 5.75 | q |
| 1 | A | Chris Nilsen | United States (USA) | – | o | o | o | 5.75 | q |
| 1 | B | Oleg Zernikel | Germany (GER) | – | o | o | o | 5.75 | q |
| 4 | A | Thiago Braz | Brazil (BRA) | – | o | xxo | o | 5.75 | q |
| 5 | B | Ben Broeders | Belgium (BEL) | – | o | o | xo | 5.75 | q |
| 6 | B | Ernest John Obiena | Philippines (PHI) | – | xo | o | xo | 5.75 | q |
| 6 | B | Ersu Şaşma | Turkey (TUR) | o | o | xo | xo | 5.75 | q |
| 8 | A | Renaud Lavillenie | France (FRA) | – | – | xxo | xo | 5.75 | q |
| 9 | A | Bo Kanda Lita Baehre | Germany (GER) | – | o | xo | xxo | 5.75 | q |
| 9 | B | Menno Vloon | Netherlands (NED) | o | xo | o | xxo | 5.75 | q |
| 9 | A | Pål Lillefosse | Norway (NOR) | – | o | xo | xxo | 5.75 | q |
| 9 | B | Sondre Guttormsen | Norway (NOR) | – | – | xo | xxo | 5.75 | q |
| 13 | A | Rutger Koppelaar | Netherlands (NED) | – | o | o | xxx | 5.65 | |
| 14 | A | Hussain Al-Hizam | Saudi Arabia (KSA) | xo | o | o | xxx | 5.65 | SB |
| 15 | B | Seito Yamamoto | Japan (JPN) | o | o | xo | xxx | 5.65 | |
| 15 | B | Simen Guttormsen | Norway (NOR) | o | o | xo | xxx | 5.65 | |
| 17 | B | Luke Winder | United States (USA) | xo | o | xo | xxx | 5.65 | |
| 18 | A | Thibaut Collet | France (FRA) | – | o | xxo | xxx | 5.65 | |
| 19 | A | Harry Coppell | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | o | o | xxx | | 5.50 | |
| 19 | B | Mikko Paavola | Finland (FIN) | o | o | xxx | | 5.50 | |
| 19 | A | Piotr Lisek | Poland (POL) | – | o | xxx | | 5.50 | |
| 22 | A | Emmanouil Karalis | Greece (GRE) | – | xo | xxx | | 5.50 | |
| 22 | A | Tommi Holttinen | Finland (FIN) | o | xo | xxx | | 5.50 | SB |
| 24 | B | Huang Bokai | China (CHN) | – | xxo | xxx | | 5.50 | |
| 24 | B | Robert Sobera | Poland (POL) | – | xxo | xxx | | 5.50 | |
| 24 | A | Kurtis Marschall | Australia (AUS) | – | xxo | xxx | | 5.50 | |
| 27 | A | Robert Renner | Slovenia (SLO) | xo | xxo | xxx | | 5.50 | |
| 28 | A | Germán Chiaraviglio | Argentina (ARG) | xo | xxx | | | 5.30 | |
| | B | Andrew Irwin | United States (USA) | xxx | | | | NM | |
| | B | Augusto Dutra | Brazil (BRA) | – | xxx | | | NM | |
| | A | Torben Blech | Germany (GER) | xxx | | | | NM | |
| | B | Valentin Lavillenie | France (FRA) | – | xxx | | | NM | |

### Final

The final was started on 24 July at 17:25.
| Rank | Name | Nationality | 5.55 | 5.70 | 5.80 | 5.87 | 5.94 | 6.00 | 6.06 | 6.21 | Mark | Notes |
| | Armand Duplantis | Sweden (SWE) | – | o | – | xo | o | o | o | xo | 6.21 | WR |
| | Chris Nilsen | United States (USA) | o | o | o | xo | o | xxx | | | 5.94 | |
| | Ernest John Obiena | Philippines (PHI) | o | xo | o | o | xo | xxx | | | 5.94 | AR |
| 4 | Thiago Braz | Brazil (BRA) | o | o | xo | o | xx– | x | | | 5.87 | |
| 5 | Oleg Zernikel | Germany (GER) | o | o | o | xo | xxx | | | | 5.87 | PB |
| 5 | Renaud Lavillenie | France (FRA) | – | o | – | xo | xxx | | | | 5.87 | SB |
| 7 | Bo Kanda Lita Baehre | Germany (GER) | xo | xo | xxo | xxo | xxx | | | | 5.87 | |
| 8 | Ersu Şaşma | Turkey (TUR) | xo | xo | o | xxx | | | | | 5.80 | =NR |
| 9 | Pål Lillefosse | Norway (NOR) | o | – | xo | xxx | | | | | 5.80 | |
| 10 | Sondre Guttormsen | Norway (NOR) | o | o | xxx | | | | | | 5.70 | |
| 11 | Ben Broeders | Belgium (BEL) | xxo | o | xxx | | | | | | 5.70 | |
| | Menno Vloon | Netherlands (NED) | xxx | | | | | | | | NM | |