Home

Olympics

USA’s Katie Nageotte Emerges as Pole Vault Favorite After Beating Reigning Champion Ahead of Tokyo Olympics 2021

Published 07/10/2021, 10:47 AM EDT

Follow Us

As Tokyo Olympics 2021 nears, some are practicing and some are participating in the last events before the big event such as the Diamond League in Monaco. USA’s pole vaulter, Katie Nageotte has now triumphed against the reigning Olympic champion, Katerini Stefanidi, and silver medalist, Sandi Morris.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Nageotte had jumped 4.90 meters. That was higher than second-placed, Anzhelika Sidorova who jumped 4.80 meters. 2016 Rio Olympics champion, Stefanidi came in third with the same jump as Sidorova. Nageotte’s fellow compatriot, Sandi Morris, came in joint 6th.

“I feel a bit of pressure ahead of Tokyo, but after the U.S. Trials, this is more like a relief and I am very excited now that I am there and get to go. Let’s just show everybody what we have been working on and what we can do,” Nageotte said.

USA Today via Reuters

Who could win gold at Tokyo Olympics 2021?

The pole vault scene is stacked with a lot of potential gold medallists. The Diamond League line-up looked like the one that will be seen at Tokyo Olympics 2021. The top two medallists in Monaco, Nageotte, and Sidorova have the world-leading jump of 4.95 meters. And behind them is Sandi Morris with 4.91 meters.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Nageotte also won the US Olympic track & field trials held a few weeks back. There she put in her personal best jump of 4.95 m. However, Sandi Morris wasn’t impressive in the trials as she could only manage 4.60m.

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest Olympics stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

What is interesting is that Nageotte has kept improving her consistency. Monaco Diamond League was the sixth event where she jumped more than 4.80m. Nageotte’s personal best of 4.95 is already the joint 3rd highest jump in history (excluding multiple jumps). Only two jumpers in history have crossed the five-meter mark. With Sandi Morris jumping 5.00 meters back in 2016, the highest was set in 2009 by Yelena Isinbayeva at 5.06 meters. It looks highly that Nageotte will breach the five-meter mark soon.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Anyone could win the gold in Pole Vault at Tokyo Olympics 2021. Will it be Nageotte or will Sidorova beat her or could Sandi Morris upgrade her silver from Rio 2016 or will it be someone else?

Read more: “Records Get Broken”- USA 200m Favorite Noah Lyles Not Focused on Usain Bolt’s World Record Ahead of Tokyo Olympics 2021

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Bhavishya Mittal

1,226Articles

One take at a time

Bhavishya Mittal is a tennis author for EssentiallySports, who is currently pursuing his Bachelor's degree in Journalism from Manipal University. A former sports editor for The Manipal Journal, Bhavishya has also worked for The New Indian Express. He has a keen eye for many sports but he is a particularly ardent follower of tennis, with a zest to create riveting articles on the ever-evolving sport.
Show More>