Jeff Hartwig is over. And so is our 12-year national nightmare. Competing yesterday in the men’s elite section at the annual Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nevada, Jeff jumped an M40 world indoor record of 5.50 meters (18-0 1/2) to become the first legitimate 18-footer over-40 in history. He beat the listed indoor WR of 5.20 (17-0 3/4) by Grigory Yegorov of Kazakstan a year ago. (The listed American indoor record was 5.18 (17-0) by Earl Bell, Jeff’s coach.) But before Jeff went 18, Pat Manson (who turned 40 in November), cleared 5.36 (17-7) as he seeks to go 18 feet for the 23rd consecutive year. He’ll get it. M50 record holder Gary Hunter also jumped. Don’t know his mark yet, but he was videotaped. Other masters WR were set: M45 (5.01) by Paul Babits, M55 (4.11) by Jeff Kingstad and M60 (4.00) by John Altendorf. Amazing!

Later, M50 vaulter Doug Sparks of Texas posted news of other WRs, and the elite progressions:

Last night there were several WRs. To name a few, Pat Manson did in fact beat Hartwig to the punch by jumping 17′ 1″ and then 17′ 7″ before being super close at 18′ 1″. About an hour later it was Jeff’s turn. Their progression went 5.30m, 5.40m, to 5.50m, so this gave Hartwig two WRs, 5.40m and then 5.50m. Awesome performances!!
My dear friend John Altendorf jumped on my pit and got a new WR for the M60 at 4m – 13′ 1 1/2″ on his first attempt to set the new mark and to tie his outdoor PR and WR. John remains the only 60 year old to ever make 13′ or higher.
I had a long talk with Paul Babits on Thursday night before he upped his M45 WR with a 5.01m jump last night. He said that vaulting wasn’t fun for him anymore at the end of last year so he moved in to a short run, got out of spikes and back to flats, and started working his plant and grip. The result? He’s now on 5m poles and looking the best I’ve seen him since 1996 when he qualified for the Olympic Trials.
Hung out with Simon Arkell (two time Olympian. and former Australia NR – 5.80m) and Mike/Erica Bartolina last night for awhile. Nice vaulting Erica and great calendar. Simon, as always had some good stories. It seems he decided to inquire about a limo sitting out front as a way to get his JC kids over to the Livestock Center. He somehow convinced them that they were the vaulters the driver was expecting. After a little confusion, the REAL passengers arrived. Imagine the surprise of 2000 Olympic Champ, Nick Hysong and his dad Cranston, to find Simon and his vaulters in “their” limo. He took one back to the hotel as well.
The snow came in last night as we were arriving at the Livestock Center and continued throughout the event. HUGE snowflakes covered everything.
The bus service is great and it’s a good thing. Many have expressed concern for the inconvenience of going back and forth but I think it’s a necessary evil at this point. Bob Fraley announced there were 2,400 vaulters this year so adjustments always will have to be made. Summit management has done an outstanding job with everything. More later.

In addition, Becca Gillespy of polevaultpower.com sent these images of results sheets from Reno:
Becca sent these this morning:
masters1 is http://www.masterstrack.com/photos/2008/masters1.jpg
masters2 is http://www.masterstrack.com/photos/2008/masters2.jpg
masters3 is http://www.masterstrack.com/photos/2008/masters3.jpg
masters4 is http://www.masterstrack.com/photos/2008/masters4.jpg
Masters women (link added Jan. 7) is http://www.masterstrack.com/photos/2008/masterswomen.jpg
emerging elite men (including Manson) is http://www.masterstrack.com/photos/2008/emergingelitemen.jpg