# Athletics at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Women's pole vault
The women's pole vault at the 2024 Summer Olympics was a track and field competition held at the [Stade de France](https://www.edgepedia.org/stade-de-france) in Saint-Denis, with qualification on 5 August and the final on 7 August 2024. Australia's [Nina Kennedy](https://www.edgepedia.org/nina-kennedy) won the gold medal with a season best of 4.90 meters, ahead of the defending champion Katie Moon of the United States (4.85 m) and Canada's Alysha Newman (4.85 m), who took bronze on a national record.[1](https://worldathletics.org/jp/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/news/article/paris-2024-olympics-report-women-pole-vault) • [2](https://www.olympedia.org/results/2013959)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Venue and dates | Stade de France, Saint-Denis; qualification 5 August, final 7 August 2024[2](https://www.olympedia.org/results/2013959) |
| Gold | Nina Kennedy (AUS), 4.90 m, season best, her first Olympic title[1](https://worldathletics.org/jp/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/news/article/paris-2024-olympics-report-women-pole-vault) |
| Silver / bronze | Katie Moon (USA) 4.85 m (=SB); Alysha Newman (CAN) 4.85 m (NR), silver decided on countback[1](https://worldathletics.org/jp/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/news/article/paris-2024-olympics-report-women-pole-vault) |
| Final field | 19 athletes advanced to the final, more than the minimum of 12[3](https://www.runblogrun.com/2024/08/the-2024-womens-pole-vault-another-epic-pole-vault-competition.html) |
| Qualification standard | 4.70 m (Q) or at least the 12 best performers (q)[4](https://worldathletics.org/es/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-athletics-7153115/results/women/pole-vault/qualification/result) |
| Entry standard | 4.73 m for Paris 2024, 3 cm harder than Tokyo 2020's 4.70 m[5](https://sportsdigest.in/athletics-in-olympics-paris-2024-the-entry-standards-are-made-more-challenging-than-2020-olympics-in-tokyo/64763/) |
| Records standing | World record 5.06 m (Yelena Isinbayeva, Zürich 2009); Olympic record 5.05 m (Isinbayeva, Beijing 2008)[6](https://www.rfeacontent.es/resultados/2024/airelibre/al_JJOO_Paris.pdf) |
## Background
Katie Moon entered Paris as the defending Olympic champion, having won in Tokyo as [Katie Nageotte](https://www.edgepedia.org/katie-nageotte), and Kennedy arrived as the reigning world champion; the two were the favorites, although Moon had struggled with injuries through the season.[2](https://www.olympedia.org/results/2013959) At the 2023 [World Athletics Championships](https://www.edgepedia.org/world-athletics-championships) in Budapest, Moon and Kennedy had been tied at the final height of 4.90 m and elected to share the gold medal, a decision criticized in some quarters; the athletes said a jump-off in exhaustion would have been dangerous.[3](https://www.runblogrun.com/2024/08/the-2024-womens-pole-vault-another-epic-pole-vault-competition.html) Kennedy had already announced she would elect to jump off if they tied again at the Olympics.[1](https://worldathletics.org/jp/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/news/article/paris-2024-olympics-report-women-pole-vault)
The Paris entry standard of 4.73 m was 3 cm higher than Tokyo 2020's 4.70 m, part of a general tightening of athletics entry standards for 2024.[5](https://sportsdigest.in/athletics-in-olympics-paris-2024-the-entry-standards-are-made-more-challenging-than-2020-olympics-in-tokyo/64763/) In qualification, athletes meeting the 4.70 m standard or ranking among at least the 12 best performers advanced to the final.[4](https://worldathletics.org/es/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-athletics-7153115/results/women/pole-vault/qualification/result) The way the round panned out produced a final of 19 athletes instead of the minimum of 12.[3](https://www.runblogrun.com/2024/08/the-2024-womens-pole-vault-another-epic-pole-vault-competition.html)
## The final
The final began at 18:15 on 7 August and became an unusually long contest. In the first hour no athlete was eliminated; the clear-out began at 4.60 m, when the first six went out, and at 4.70 m another four failed, leaving nine in the contest after two hours.[1](https://worldathletics.org/jp/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/news/article/paris-2024-olympics-report-women-pole-vault) The competition ran for three hours and 22 minutes in total, interrupted by a technical failure with one of the neon-lit upright poles and by three other medal events being decided around the runway.[1](https://worldathletics.org/jp/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/news/article/paris-2024-olympics-report-women-pole-vault) Kennedy said afterward that the winner would be the person who could maintain focus the longest.[1](https://worldathletics.org/jp/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/news/article/paris-2024-olympics-report-women-pole-vault)
**The medal heights.** At 4.80 m the contenders separated: Moon, Kennedy, Newman, and European champion [Angelica Moser](https://www.edgepedia.org/angelica-moser) all cleared first time, while 2016 Olympic champion [Aikaterini Stefanidi](https://www.edgepedia.org/aikaterini-stefanidi), bronze medallist Eliza McCartney, and 2022 European champion Wilma Murto were among the four eliminated. Czechia's Amálie Švábíková cleared on her final attempt with a national record before leaving the competition.[1](https://worldathletics.org/jp/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/news/article/paris-2024-olympics-report-women-pole-vault) Kennedy took the lead alone with a first-attempt clearance at 4.85 m after Newman, Moon, and Moser had missed; Newman and Moon recovered in the second round, while Moser passed her third attempt to gamble on 4.90 m and then went out.[1](https://worldathletics.org/jp/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/news/article/paris-2024-olympics-report-women-pole-vault)
At 4.90 m Kennedy cleared on her first attempt while Newman missed three times and settled for bronze.[2](https://www.olympedia.org/results/2013959) When Moon knocked the bar on her first two attempts at 4.95 m, Kennedy was champion, and she elected not to jump again.[1](https://worldathletics.org/jp/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/news/article/paris-2024-olympics-report-women-pole-vault) The result gave Australia its first Olympic gold medal in the women's pole vault.[3](https://www.runblogrun.com/2024/08/the-2024-womens-pole-vault-another-epic-pole-vault-competition.html) • [8](https://www.olympics.com.au/olympians/steven-hooker/) Newman, who had overcome a neurological condition to return to the top level, set a Canadian record of 4.85 m for her first [Olympic medal](https://www.edgepedia.org/olympic-medal).[1](https://worldathletics.org/jp/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/news/article/paris-2024-olympics-report-women-pole-vault)
## Medalists
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| | Nina Kennedy | Australia | 4.90 m (SB)[1](https://worldathletics.org/jp/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/news/article/paris-2024-olympics-report-women-pole-vault) |
| | Katie Moon | United States | 4.85 m (=SB)[1](https://worldathletics.org/jp/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/news/article/paris-2024-olympics-report-women-pole-vault) |
| | Alysha Newman | Canada | 4.85 m (NR)[1](https://worldathletics.org/jp/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/news/article/paris-2024-olympics-report-women-pole-vault) |
Moon's silver added to her Tokyo gold; Kennedy, 27, had struggled in the transition from junior to senior competition before working with coach Paul Burgess, a former six-meter vaulter, and arrived in Paris after beating all the other contenders at the Monaco and London Diamond League meetings.[1](https://worldathletics.org/jp/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/news/article/paris-2024-olympics-report-women-pole-vault) • [3](https://www.runblogrun.com/2024/08/the-2024-womens-pole-vault-another-epic-pole-vault-competition.html)
## Context in the event's Olympic history
Women's pole vault made its Olympic debut at the 2000 Games in Sydney, when the United States' Stacy Dragila won the gold.[7](https://worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/pole-vault) The world and Olympic records that stood through Paris 2024, 5.06 m and 5.05 m respectively, both belonged to Yelena Isinbayeva, set in Zürich in 2009 and Beijing in 2008.[6](https://www.rfeacontent.es/resultados/2024/airelibre/al_JJOO_Paris.pdf) Kennedy said after her win that challenging the 5.06 m world record was her new ambition.[1](https://worldathletics.org/jp/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/news/article/paris-2024-olympics-report-women-pole-vault)
## References
1. [Kennedy over the moon after taking Olympic pole vault title in Paris, World Athletics (7 August 2024)](https://worldathletics.org/jp/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/news/article/paris-2024-olympics-report-women-pole-vault)
2. [Olympedia – Pole Vault, Women (Paris 2024)](https://www.olympedia.org/results/2013959)
3. [The 2024 Women's Pole Vault: Another epic pole vault competition, RunBlogRun (10 August 2024)](https://www.runblogrun.com/2024/08/the-2024-womens-pole-vault-another-epic-pole-vault-competition.html)
4. [Qualification | Pole Vault | Results | Paris 24, World Athletics](https://worldathletics.org/es/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-athletics-7153115/results/women/pole-vault/qualification/result)
5. [Athletics in Olympics Paris 2024: The Entry Standards are Made More Challenging than 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Sports Digest](https://sportsdigest.in/athletics-in-olympics-paris-2024-the-entry-standards-are-made-more-challenging-than-2020-olympics-in-tokyo/64763/)
6. [Official Athletics Results Book, Paris 2024 (World Athletics)](https://www.rfeacontent.es/resultados/2024/airelibre/al_JJOO_Paris.pdf)
7. [Pole Vault, World Athletics discipline page](https://worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/pole-vault)
8. [Steven Hooker, Australian Olympic Committee](https://www.olympics.com.au/olympians/steven-hooker/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Individual sports and outdoor recreation › Athletics, gymnastics, and strength sports › Major athletics competitions and results*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
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