Renaud Lavillenie broke the world record for the highest pole vault at 6.16 meters(!) in 2014. What was his running speed before planting the pole?

Question

Renaud Lavillenie broke the world record for the highest pole vault at 6.16 meters(!) in 2014. What was his running speed before planting the pole?

 

Show work please.

Answer 1

Let's see what we know, the change in height was Δy = 6.16m

                                   the acceleration vertically = a_y =-g=-9.8 m/s²

  at the top of the jump, for a tiny moment final velocity   v_yf =0 m/s

So we can use a kinematics equation to solve for initial velocity when we know, displacement, acceleration, and final velocity. V_f² = v_i²+ 2aΔy

Substitute the known values and solve for initial vertical velocity.

This is the vertical vector we need to solve the problem. His running speed at an angle θ must equal this vertical vector.

v_yi =running speed sinθ