Track Athletics in Detail (extract)

THE POLE VAULT 95 ino-. You have either made your vault or you have not, and all you have to do is to fallfree, or bring down the bar withyou. No effort that the athlete canow make to avoidthe bar will avail him, as the motion in mid-air is practically uncon­ trollable after the pole has been abandoned. It is easyto learn how to falllimp into the soft earth below, and there is never any danger attending this drop. It will be noticed in the illustration that the twisting motion imparted on the hither side of the bar turns the body so that the athlete falls withhis back to theposts, having performed one complete gyration in mid-air. This is not by anymeans a necessary element