Top Fields Set for Annual Pole Vault Showcase

By Scott Bush

The annual showcase of top pole vaulting talent takes place this coming weekend in Akron, Ohio at the Akron Pole Vault Convention. Leading the charge in this year's field are reigning USATF Indoor champion and NCAA Outdoor champion Demi Payne and World Championship gold medalist Shawn Barber. For Barber, he'll compete in front of his former teammates at Akron for the first time in 2016. 

Both Barber, who's the defending champion, and Payne have put up some strong results so far in the new year, too. Barber vaulted his best seasonal debut, with a world top-ranked height of 5.88m in a competition in Texas. Meanwhile, Payne vaulted 4.29m at the same competition, winning as well.

While both are considered the pre-meet favorites, they'll have plenty of competition. Barber finds competition from a trio of Americans in Mark Hollis, Olympian Jeremy Scott and Jordan Scott. All three men have won U.S. titles an each should be strong competition for the Canadian.

The women's field is even stronger. Payne leads a deep and talented pool of pole vaulters, where she'll find her top competition coming from Katerina Stefanidi of Greece. Stefanidi, a former Stanford student-athlete and 2012 Olympian, ranked fourth in the world in 2015 with a top vault of 4.77m.

Payne and Stefanidi are joined by Becky Holliday, who ranked #11 in the world in 2015, and competed in the 2012 Olympics. Defending champion Melissa Gergel looks to upset the field, while Katie Nageotte and Kayla Caldwell give the women's lineup the top five finishers at the 2015 USATF Indoor Championships, with Payne, Saxer and Gergel being the others. 

Men's Elite Field

Shawn Barber
Jordan Scott
Mark Hollis
Jeremy Scott
Darren Niedermeyer
Peter Geraghty
Scott Houston
Alex McCune
Drew Volz
Sean Young

Women's Elite Field

Demi Payne
Mary Saxer
Becky Holliday
Katerina Stefanidi
Kelsie Ahbe
Katie Nageotte
Cimran Virdi
Kayla Caldwell
Melissa Gergel
Vera Neuenswander-Schmitz
Caroline Hasse
Alexandra Wasik