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A new WR by master:

Wow! Nice going John ... again!

You keep this up, and you'll be surpassing Bubka in number of WRs!

Seriously, what's the count at now?

Can't wait to see the vid!

Did you remember to wear your helmet this time?

Kirk

Great job John! I'm so puling for you to beat that lifetime best. You're only 3 and a half inches away. Right? Super job.
Later...Mike

Nice work John! Hope to see you guys soon!
Tom

I would also like to congratulate John. I have been watching him jump all summer and he is really vaulting at a high level, I believe he has been consistently clearing 13' at every meet and practice for the last couple of months so I think even bigger jumps will be in his future. I think one of the more interesting facts about John's jumping is that he is 64 years old. So as he continues to get better he will be heading into a new age class, so lookout to all the 65 year old vaulters, here he comes. It seems to me that it is pretty rare for anyone to be bettering world records in one age group as they are preparing to move into the next age group. Just another amazing fact about John's jumping.
Vault On

Thanks everyone. It was a long hot day, but I'm very pleased to have jumped well, achieving a record, at a National Championships. I stuck with my competition plan of attempting 3.50, 3.70, 3.90 then 4.04. Each height was made on my first attempt. I moved through 3 poles ending on a 14' 160 carbon that Dan West loaned me. Videos of my vaults can be downloaded here.

Through some kind of an oversight, USATF didn't post this as a record made in any of their press releases, but that may be corrected. (EDIT Tom Surber, USATF Media Information Manager, has updated the "News" page for the day of my competition to include this record.) I was beginning to think there might be a problem with accepting it as a record, but I don't think that will be the case. After all, Wilson (vaultMD) supervised the whole process of measuring and standards setting. Thanks Wilson.

KirkB wrote:Seriously, what's the count at now? .... Did you remember to wear your helmet this time?

By my count, this is the 10th. And yes, I did wear my helmet for every vault.

Thanks to everyone along the way that has helped me by coaching, taking videos and providing support and encouragement. Hopefully soon I will get a listing up on my website of all these people. My special thanks to Dan West (vaultwest) who over the past several years has been a great coach and friend.

The paperwork may have been delayed by a lack of signatures. When I showed up to compete the next day (I scratched because my leg was jacked up) Dick Moss chased me down for mine.

I was honored to sign it for master's record.

that is outstanding, congratulations young man. I hope to see you jump someday.

John, I'm very suprised to see that you did not comment that this was the highest that you have jumped with a helmet. Remember, in Kamloops you FORGOT to put it on when you jumped 4.05m. Bubba

From Sea-Tac waiting to go home from my cruise. CONGRATS again John!