looking at elite pv videos

[SweetPVJumps]

kinda curious to see what answers ya got and i think it might be helpful for some people, but when one looks at pv videos, especially ones on stabhochsprung.com, who do you think should be looked at for each part of the vault (e.g. plant, takeoff, swing, rockback, invert, turn and pushoff)? for example, if someone really needs to see a good example of a good rockback, which elite vaulter is best at it and therefore would make a good example?

[altius]

Anna Rogowska is as good a model as any young vaulter could find.

[KYLE ELLIS]

how do u figure rogowska to be a good model?

[craigmtb]

Bubka has got be the obvious answer. World record holder, he might have been doing something right. The continous chain method is well demonstrated.

Big plant
Talk about a huge inverted C on the hang
sweet shots to show vaulter why we do bubkas (Bubka position)
amazing push off!

[altius]

Because what she is doing is simple but effective - meets the same biomechanical criteria as Bubka - and her technical model can be mastered by anyone prepared to do the right drills. Also she jumps the sort of height a lot of high school boys can jump. Finally there are good shots of her on Stabhochsprung. Of course it is alright having Bubka as a model but he is a bit too obvious.

[Texasvaulter07]

i thinl what hes saying is we can relate to her a little better than we can to bubka

[KYLE ELLIS]

why would you have a beginner watch film of someone who has alot of technical flaws? why not copy off someone like bubka who is technically alot better?

[altius]

Sorry old son but although Rogowska is not 'perfect' - if every, and I mean every, US vaulter copied the the technical model she employs, they would all benefit. Look at the similarities between her technical model and that of Bubka -not the differences in their 'styles'. What she is doing is much simpler and more approachable than Bubka's version of that technical model.

Incidentally film of Bubka has been around for 20 odd years. You only have to look at the topics in this section to see that it has had little impact on US vaulting. 90% of vaulters in the US or more still take under! - not only that, but many of their coaches seem to believe that is where they should take off!

i could have suggested Markov as a model - I watch him train every week - but you do have to be a bit special to do what he does!

If I piss you off -I am not kidding - i suggest you take a serious look at Rogowska and tell me what she is doing that is fundamentally wrong.

[KYLE ELLIS]

First off she does run really well with the pole. The first thing i dont like is that she kinda falls away from her plant on her last two strides and has a long takeoff stride. I also think she moves her arms up too high too soon at her plant. Next comes her takeoff angle which i think is way too high, her drive knee comes past parallel realy fast thus her trail leg doesnt ever make it past het top hand. I think the long last stride ties into the high takeoff angle. Next she doesnt get into the pocket, as ive heard it called. What i mean is she doesnt have that position ever were her left hand, head, shoulders and hips are all in line. Her swing is pretty good except i think she could keep her hips under her a little longer. The last thing i really dont like is that she tries to pull and stay on her back instead of having the natural rotation around the pole. I think this happens when the vaulter pulls more with the right arm and tries to drop their shoulders and saty on their back instead of transferring the energy to the left by primarily pulling with it. So to me she misses alot of energy by not lining up with the pole. To me thats all that seperates her and yelena, yelena cranks on her left and lines up better than most elite men ive ever watched. But its not bad that she's jumping 4.75 and 4.80 almost on her back. I think there is alot of difference in bubka and rogowska.

[altius]

of course there are a lot of differences - they are two very different people -but if you continue your analysis you will find the differences are of style not technical model.

Of course she is not as good as Bubka - all I am doing is answering a vaulter -presumably a high school boy who is not jumping too high and who needs something closer to what he could achieve. than Bubka. Take the run up for example -glad you thought it was good - if every US coache took just that single element of technique and copied her -their vaulters would improve.

If you have any doubts that I understand what Bubka did -read chapters 5 and 6 in my book Beginner to Bubka. You will also see - even on the front cover, that I used Bubka as MY model - but I had been coaching thirty odd years before i met him and petrov. Many kids in the US clearly have no coach - how can they even begin to model Bubka? Incidentally which US vaulters are closest to Bubka technically -are there ANY who are close?

Anyway as my old gran said "a man convinced against his will remains of the same opinion still" - unless you can give me a very good reason to continue this discussion I am out of here! -as they say!

[SweetPVJumps]

(acutally high school girl vaulter )
but in fact what im trying to look for is not whose the best vaulter in general, but who has the best example for each part of the vault. why dont i just say what i think and ill welcome your arguements that prove me wrong:
best takeoff:bubka, feofanova
swing: rogowska
rockback: dragila, hartwig, isinbayeva
invert:bubka, isinbayeva

ah, thats all i got from 5 minutes of stabhochsprung, which was just interrupted cuz of technical problems. but i know im wrong on some of those, which is why id be really interested to hear from you guys, see what you think. of course bubka makes the best example of all to copy, but each elite vaulter has a lot to offer as an example to us young vaulters. some may not be the highest or have the best form overall but they just might have a darn good takeoff or whatever that helps them get those heights.

[PaulVaulter]

It can be misleading to break down a vault and say that a certain vaulter has a specific part that is particularly good.

This is because a vault is not a series of independant events, all aspects are completely dependant on the events that preceed them, and thus the vault starts from the first step of the run-up.

I say this because it is possible to compromise a certain part of the vault in order to create a more technically desirable characteristic later on, although reducing the overall effectiveness of the vault.

Using myself as an example, I had comments last season that the top part of my jump was looking a lot better, covering the pole and staying with it very well, but I could only achieve this because I was not completing the take-off and swinging straight from the ground leading to an early invert.

This means that if you were aiming for a rockback like Isinbayeva for example, you may need to use a less that perfect take-off to achieve it, which is not desirable.

So probably best to stick to watching full vaults by Bubka and Rogowska.