Athletics at the 1904 Summer Olympics – Men's pole vault

This was the third appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Charles Dvorak, who had expected to compete in 1900 but was foiled by machinations revolving around the Sunday schedule then, was able to compete in 1904. The French world record holder, Fernand Gonder, was not present. Most of the top Americans were; like many events in 1904, it was largely a United States championship.[2]

Germany made its first appearance in the event. The United States made its third appearance, the only nation to have competed at every Olympic men's pole vault to that point.

There was a single round of vaulting. The bar was raised by 3 inches each time.[2]

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in metres) prior to the 1904 Summer Olympics.

World record	Fernand Gonder (FRA)	3.69*	Paris, France	26 June 1904
Olympic record	William Hoyt (USA)	3.30	Athens, Greece	10 April 1896 (NS)

^* unofficial

Charles Dvorak set a new Olympic record of 3.50 metres. All 5 of the vaulters whose results are known bested the previous Olympic record.

Key

The tie for second was resolved through a series of jump-offs. In the four-way jump-off, the jumpers started at 3.28 metres, which all succeeded at. Allen and McLanahan were unable to replicate their 3.35 metres success, while Samse and Wilkins both cleared that height as well as the 3.43 metres they had been unable to achieve in the main final. There was then a second series of head-to-head jump-offs; details are not known, though McLanahan beat Allen and Samse beat Wilkins.[2]

Rank	Athlete	Nation	3.35	3.43	3.50	3.71	Height	Notes
	Charles Dvorak	United States	o	o	o	x	3.50	OR
	LeRoy Samse	United States	o	x	N/A		3.35
	Louis Wilkins	United States	o	x	N/A		3.35
4	Ward McLanahan	United States	o	x	N/A		3.35
5	Claude Allen	United States	o	x	N/A		3.35
6	Walter Dray	United States	Unknown
7	Paul Weinstein	Germany	Unknown

LeRoy Samse clearing the bar on the way to the silver medal.

Louis Wilkins clearing the bar on the way to the bronze medal.

Ward McLanahan in action on the way to finish in fourth place.

• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 14 December 2006.