2019 World Athletics Championships – Men's pole vault

The field contained a who's who of contemporary pole vaulters, save 2015 champion Shawnacy Barber. World record holder Renaud Lavillenie and 2011 champion Paweł Wojciechowski didn't make the final. In the final, 2013 champion Raphael Holzdeppe and Olympic champion Thiago Braz bowed out, unable to clear 5.80m. That height selected the medalists and it was the same three who had cleared 6 metres earlier in the season, all three perfect to that point.

At 5.87m, all three missed their first attempt. Armand Duplantis cleared it on his second attempt, matched by Piotr Lisek, but defending champion Sam Kendricks missed again, not only taking him out of the lead, but leaving him only one more attempt to be allowed to continue. He made an adjustment to the placement of his standards then made it for new life. At 5.92m, Duplantis and Lisek missed their first attempts, Kendricks made his. Advantage Kendricks. Duplantis missed his next attempt, then Lisek decided to go for the win and saved his two remaining attempts for the next height 5.97 m (19 ft 7 in). Now the pressure was on Duplantis. He made his attempt, putting him into silver medal position.

At 5.97m, none of the three could get over on their first two attempts. Lisek was eliminated and had to settle for bronze. Again under pressure, Duplantis and Kendricks both made their final attempt. The bar moved to 6.02m with Kendricks holding the lead. Neither were able to make their first two attempts, when Duplantis failed a third time, Kendricks celebrated the successful defense of his title.

At the end of the competition, the medallists celebrated together on the pole vault mat. Their act of competitor camaraderie earned them a place on the shortlist for the International Fair Play Award.[2]

Before the competition records were as follows:[3]

World record	Renaud Lavillenie (FRA)	6.16 m	Donetsk, Ukraine	15 February 2014
Championship record	Dmitri Markov (AUS)	6.05 m	Edmonton, Canada	9 August 2001
World Leading	Sam Kendricks (USA)	6.06 m	Des Moines, United States	27 July 2019
African Record	Okkert Brits (RSA)	6.03 m	Cologne, Germany	18 August 1995
Asian Record	Igor Potapovich (KAZ)	5.92 m	Stockholm, Sweden	19 February 1998
North, Central American and Caribbean record	Sam Kendricks (USA)	6.06 m	Des Moines, United States	27 July 2019
South American Record	Thiago Braz (BRA)	6.03 m	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	15 August 2016
European Record	Renaud Lavillenie (FRA)	6.16 m	Donetsk, Ukraine	15 February 2014
Oceanian record	Steven Hooker (AUS)	6.06 m	Boston, United States	7 February 2009

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 5.71 m.[4]

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+3), was as follows:[5]