Reebok Boston Indoor Games: pole-vault photos by George Ross

The outstanding pole vault performances were made possible in part by the elevated Mondo runway meet organizers arranged to have shipped in from last week’s Millrose Games in New York. Jenn Stuczynski wasted little time in starting the evening off by breaking Stacy Dragila’s American record with a clearance of 15-9.75 (4.82m) and taking home a $25,000 bonus. Using the elevated runway to her advantage she cleared her first three heights on her opening attempts, but just missed the world record height of 16-3.25. Stuczynski now sits at No. 3 on the all-time list.

The men’s pole vault was just as exciting as Australian Olympic gold medalist, Steve Hooker, closed out the meet by making three attempts at 20-2.25 (6.16m), one centimeter higher than Ukrainian Sergey Bubka’s nearly sixteen-year old world record. He narrowly missed clearing the bar on his final try and came away with a winning mark of 19-10.5 (6.06m). His performance earned him the Australian national record and put him a No. 2 on the all-time list.

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