Kendricks Tops Them All With No. 2 All-Time Outdoor Clearance

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

DES MOINES – The brilliance of Sam Kendricks shined on a warm afternoon on the pole vault runway and in the media mixed zone Saturday at Drake Stadium.

Already among a handful of top jumpers on the planet, the 2017 world champion came to greet and embrace his young American challengers and, too, show them how it’s done at the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships.

Kendricks, who uses the same 16-foot, 1-inch pole no matter how high the bar is, made a clearance at 19-10.50 (6.06m) to break the American record and move to No. 2 on the all-time outdoor world list behind the legendary Sergey Bubka.

It was the highest pole vault clearance outdoors anywhere in the world since 1994 – when Kendricks was not yet 2.

It was also Kendricks' sixth consecutive U.S. title, breaking a tie with Cornelius Warmerdam (1940-44) and Bob Richards (1948-52).

“I don’t think it’s my destiny to hold the world record,” Kendricks said. “You may ask me in the future, but I’ll give you that question and I’ll tell you it’s way too damn high. My only goal was formulated when I came to my first USA Championship, and (that is) when I get the chance to wear ‘USA’ all I can do is be hard to beat.”

After winning the competition with a clearance at 19-2.75 (5.86m), Kendricks approached his coach and father, Scott, and eagerly suggested to move the bar up to the record height of 6.06m.

“Coach K” said he wanted his son to clear one more bar in between (19-4.75, 5.91m) to bridge the gap to the higher height. Kendricks made it on his first attempt.

On his first try at 6.06, Kendricks brushed the bar off and told his coach “I’ve hit bars harder and they stayed, dang it!”  

On his second attempt there was an even slighter brush, but the bar stayed.

“I hit it, but not as hard as I had the (jump) before,” Kendricks said. “As I was falling, I thought ‘There about to come tackle me.’”

Kendricks made a point of greeting his competitors, many of them younger. He will be leading a contingent of vaulters to the World Championships that includes first-time qualifier Cole Walsh and a pair of college freshmen, Zach Bradford from Kansas and K.C. Lightfoot from Baylor.

Because of who Kendricks is, as a person, his competitors lined the runway and clapped as he attempted the American record height. And they jumped up and celebrated on the pit with him to revel in the moment.

Even as Kendricks holds court in front of the assembled media, younger athletes watch him and take in the poise, quick wit, and thoughtful answers.

But on the field, they are watching and learning from a master craftsman.

Kendricks, by using just one pole, aims to be the better athlete the way a fisherman using only dry flies and barbless hooks aims for something pure in the technique to catch a trout.

“I aim to be a pole vaulter, and not just a stick-jumper,” he said. “My coach says ‘I want you to be the athlete on the end of the pole and believe in yourself, and not (use) the smoke and mirrors behind pole vaulting that you see.”

Those who are trying to emulate him also see something special.

“Sam does a wonderful job coming off the ground tall,” Walsh said. “He’s rising up toward the bar the moment he leaves the ground. He’s active with his swing immediately off the ground. That’s what he does better than anyone else.”

The other thing he does better than his peers is engage with the other athletes trying to compete against the bar.

“There’s a lot of young jumpers out there in the pole vault that I really crave to know,” Kendricks said. “I made sure to walk up to everybody and said ‘Hey, you know me, and I know you now.’ Because we’re all going to be a team when we get to Doha on the track together.”