Paris 2024 athletics: Why the women's pole vault could be the most exciting track & field event at the Paris 2024 Olympics (2024)

Welcome to the latest season of the women’s pole vault - with more drama than ever before.

This season, the world's top stars are challenged by fiercely rising competitors, all ready to stake their claim as medal contenders in the Olympic Games Paris 2024 final.

From heart-stopping near misses to shared medals, and everything in between, the last three years of women’s pole vault have kept fans on the edge of their seats.

Olympics.com delves into why the women's pole vault is shaping up to be one of the most exciting events of the year and why you don't want to miss the Olympic final on 7 August.

Picture by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

Will there be another shared Olympic title in athletics?

Let’s begin with the top two athletes on the world ranking list, Australia's world number 1 Nina Kennedy and world number 2 Katie Moon of the USA.

Moon is the reigning Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 champion and became 2022 world champion shortly after. In 2023, at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, she claimed her second world title, alongside Kennedy who also cleared 4.90m.

Much like the heart-warming moment from the men’s high jump in Tokyo 2020, Moon and Kennedy opted to share the world title, a decision that led to their recognition for the International Fair Play Award.

• By rule, when a tie occurs for first place, a jump-off is held, where they continue to jump at first the missed height, then the bar gets lowered until one misses and the other makes it. Both athletes are allowed to refuse to jump.

Only four centimeters stand between the personal bests of Moon (4.95m) and Kennedy (4.91m). In a sport where every centimetre counts, both athletes will have to be in perfect form in the final to claim gold.

Moon feels confident following the qualification round. “I felt amazing. This runway is incredibly fast. Morning sessions are tricky for someone who’s not a morning person at all, so I was a little nervous. I haven’t jumped in the morning since high school, maybe college. But I felt great.

"These were definitely some of my best technical jumps of the year,” the defending champion added.

Molly Caudery misses opening height, Olympic final opens up

Unfortunately for Team GB, their 2024 world indoor champion and world lead, Molly Caudery, failed to clear her opening height of 4.55m and will not be competing in the women's pole vault final.

But the rest of the pack is eager to fill her spikes.

Angelica Moser of Switzerland sits right next to Kennedy on the world lead list, having both shared a podium and season bests of 4.88m in Monaco in July earlier this year. The Youth Olympic Games Nanjing 2014 champion will be looking to experience Olympic glory again, this time on the ultimate stage.

New Zealand's Eliza McCartney, the 2024 world indoor championship silver medallist in Glasgow, cleared 4.84 metres in the Olympic host nation in February, putting her just one centimeter below Moon's season best.

Finnish record-holder and 2023 World Championship bronze medallist Wilma Murto, who won her medal clearing the same height as Cauldrey and McCartney in Glasgow (4.80m), has improved one centimeter, coming in third in her qualification round on 5 August.

Slovenia pins its hopes on Tina Šutej, who placed fifth at the Tokyo Olympics and fourth in the 2023 World Championships. The Slovenian placed third at the 2024 Wanda Diamond League in May, after Caudery and Kennedy, and will surely be hungry to get on the podium at her fourth Olympic appearance.

And never count out Canada's 2018 Commonwealth Games champion Elysha Newman, whose season-best of 4.83 could make her a medal contender.

How to watch Paris 2024 track and field events live

The men's pole vault final wrapped up last night (5 August) with another record-breaking performance from Swedish superstar Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis.

The women will jump to decide their Olympic fates on 7 August, the finals beginning at 18:15 local Paris time.

A full schedule of competition timings, including start times in your region, plus results for each discipline as they happen, can be found on the Paris 2024 website.

All the action from the Paris 2024 Olympics, including track and field, will be broadcast via the official media rights holders (MRHs) of the Olympic Games.

This includes CBC in Canada, CCTV in People's Republic of China, Fuji TV/NHK/Nippon TV/TBS/TV Asahi/TV Tokyo in Japan, SKY NZ in New Zealand, SuperSport in South Africa, NBC in the United States, and Discovery Eurosport across Europe, alongside France Télévisions in France, ARD/ZDF in Germany, and BBC Sport in the United Kingdom, among others.

A full list of regional broadcasters and rights holders can be found on Olympics.com and the official Olympics app.

• Watch Team USA highlights at Paris 2024