1997 World Championships in Athletics – Men's pole vault

The final of the Men's Pole Vault event at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics was held on Sunday August 10, 1997, in Athens, Greece.

Medalists

Gold	Sergey Bubka Ukraine (UKR)
Silver	Maksim Tarasov Russia (RUS)
Bronze	Dean Starkey United States (USA)

Schedule

• All times are Eastern European Time (UTC+2)

Qualification Round
Group A	Group B
08.08.1997 – 17:30h	08.08.1997 – 17:30h
Final Round
10.08.1997 – 17:30h

Abbreviations

• All results shown are in metres

Q	automatic qualification
q	qualification by rank
DNS	did not start
NM	no mark
WR	world record
AR	area record
NR	national record
PB	personal best
SB	season best

Records

Standing records prior to the 1997 World Athletics Championships
World Record	Sergey Bubka (UKR)	6.14 m	July 31, 1994	Sestriere, Italy
Event Record	Sergey Bubka (UKR)	6.00 m	August 19, 1993	Stuttgart, Germany
Broken records during the 1997 World Athletics Championships
Event Record	Sergey Bubka (UKR)	6.01 m	August 10, 1997	Athens, Greece

Results

Qualification

Qualification: Qualifying Performance 5.75 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the final.

Group A

Rank	Name	5.30	5.45	5.60	5.70	Result	Notes
1	Tim Lobinger (GER)	–	o	o	o	5.70	q
1	Maksim Tarasov (RUS)	–	–	–	o	5.70	q
3	Sergey Bubka (UKR)	–	–	–	xo	5.70	q
3	Nick Buckfield (GBR)	o	o	o	xo	5.70	q
5	Trond Barthel (NOR)	–	xo	xo	xo	5.70	q
6	Pat Manson (USA)	–	o	o	xxo	5.70	q
7	Danny Krasnov (ISR)	–	xo	o	xxo	5.70	q
8	Juan Gabriel Concepción (ESP)	xxo	xxo	o	xxx	5.60
9	Alain Andji (FRA)	–	o	xxo	xxx	5.60
9	Andrei Tivontschik (GER)	–	–	xxo	xxx	5.60
11	Peter Widen (SWE)	–	o	xxx		5.45
12	Ilian Efremov (BUL)	xxo	o	xxx		5.45
13	Vesa Rantanen (FIN)	o	xo	xxx		5.45
14	Andrea Giannini (ITA)	xo	xo	xxx		5.45
15	Edgardo Díaz (PUR)	o	xxo	xxx		5.45
16	Ruhan Işim (TUR)	xxo	xxx			5.30
–	Okkert Brits (RSA)	–	–	xx-	x	NM
–	Lawrence Johnson (USA)	–	–	xxx		NM
–	Aleksandr Korchagin (KAZ)	xxx				NM
–	Montxu Miranda (ESP)	–				DNF

Group B

Rank	Name	5.30	5.45	5.60	5.70	Result	Notes
1	Martin Eriksson (SWE)	–	o	xo	o	5.70	q
2	Yevgeniy Smiryagin (RUS)	xo	o	xxo	o	5.70	q
3	Jean Galfione (FRA)	–	xo	–	xo	5.70	q
4	Vadim Strogalyov (RUS)	–	xxo	–	xo	5.70	q
5	Riaan Botha (RSA)	–	–	o	xxo	5.70	q
6	Dean Starkey (USA)	–	xo	xo	xxo	5.70	q
7	Igor Potapovich (KAZ)	–	–	o	xxx	5.60
8	Khalid Lachheb (FRA)	xo	o	xo	xxx	5.60
9	Michael Stolle (GER)	o	o	xxo	xxx	5.60
10	Fabio Pizzolato (ITA)	xxo	o	xxo	xxx	5.60
11	Paul Gibbons (NZL)	o	xo	xxx		5.45
12	Laurens Looije (NED)	o	xxx			5.30
12	Vyacheslav Shuteyev (UKR)	o	xxx			5.30
–	Heikki Vaaraniemi (FIN)	–	xxx			NM
–	Javier García (ESP)	–	xxx			NM
–	Stavros Tsitouras (GRE)	–	xxx			NM
–	Martin Voss (DEN)	xxx				NM
–	Jurij Rovan (SLO)	xxx				NM
–	Dmitriy Markov (BLR)					DNS

Final

Rank	Name	5.50	5.70	5.80	5.86	5.91	5.96	6.01	6.06	6.15	Result	Notes
	Sergey Bubka (UKR)	–	xo	-	-	xo	-	o	-	DNF	6.01	CR
	Maksim Tarasov (RUS)	–	xo	-	o	xxo	o	x-	xx		5.96
	Dean Starkey (USA)	xo	o	o	xxo	xxo	x-	xx			5.91	SB
4	Tim Lobinger (GER)	o	o	o	xxx						5.80
5	Nick Buckfield (GBR)	o	o	xxx							5.70
6	Pat Manson (USA)	xo	o	xxx							5.70
7	Vadim Strogalyov (RUS)	o	xxo	xxx							5.70
8	Yevgeniy Smiryagin (RUS)	xo	xxo	xxx							5.70
9	Martin Eriksson (SWE)	o	xxx								5.50
9	Danny Krasnov (ISR)	o	xxx								5.50
11	Trond Barthel (NOR)	xo	xxx								5.50
—	Riaan Botha (RSA)	-	xxx								NM
—	Jean Galfione (FRA)	-	xxx								NM