The University of Akron Athletics
Barber Places 10th in Olympic Pole Vault Final
August 15 | Track & Field
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OFFICIAL POLE VAULT FINAL RESULTS (8/15/16)
photo courtesy of Laci Perenyi / Athletics Canada
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – The Olympic pole vault final proved to be a bittersweet moment for former Akron All-American and reigning IAAF World Champion Shawn Barber, as he placed 10th at the XXXI Summer Olympics on Monday, Aug. 15.
Weather played a major factor in the competition as the start of the final was delayed more than an hour due to pouring rain. The event was also plagued by a delay due to issues with the motorized mechanism that automatically raises the bar to the selected height.
Barber was unable to clear the opening height of 18-0.50 (5.50m) on his initial jump of the evening, but battled back to eclipse the height on his second attempt.
The bar then moved to 18-6.50 (5.65m) and Barber was unable to surpass the mark on each of his three runs at the mark.
Thiago Braz da Silva of Brazil captured the gold medal with an Olympic record jump of 19-9.25 (6.03m), while Renaud Lavillenie of France and Sam Kendricks of the United States took the silver and bronze medals with marks of 19-7.50 (5.98m) and 19-2.25 (5.85m), respectively.
"It's just a matter of trying to get everything to line up on the right jump at the right time and I just couldn't find that rhythm today," said Barber. "You saw a lot of great athletes out there that didn't make the bars they were hoping to. I tried a couple things, they didn't pan out the way I wanted them to and that's how it goes. You get three attempts and you try to make it work in those three."
"For Shawn it has been a hard long tough year," Akron head coach Dennis Mitchell commented. "Lots of little adversity. He looked good early in the warm-ups. However, we just could not get on that last pole. It kicked him hard. We just have to regroup and be ready to defend his world title at next year's world championship in London."
