Athletics at the 2019 Pan American Games – Men's pole vault

The medals were decided at 5.61m, only three cleared it. Among the eliminated was Olympic champion Thiago Braz. Clayton Fritsch couldn't get over 5.71m and Augusto Dutra got over it on his second attempt, while Chris Nilsen still had a perfect round going. Dutra passed the next height, daring Nilsen to get over it. Nilsen was well over the bar on his attempts but peaking well behind the bar, he knocked it off on his first two attempts. On his final attempt at 5.76 m (18 ft 10 ³⁄₄ in) he was still too close to the bar, but managed to snake over it. When he landed with the bar still on its pegs, he celebrated. Both made attempts at 5.81m. At 1cm below his personal best from 6 years earlier, it would have been a heroic jump for Dutra, though still 14 cm below what Nilsen had done just two months earlier to win the NCAA Championships. Neither man made it, leaving Dutra with silver while Nilsen took gold.

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Pan American Games records were as follows:

World record	Renaud Lavillenie (FRA)	6.16	Donetsk, Ukraine	February 15, 2014
Pan American Games record	Lázaro Borges (CUB)	5.80	Guadalajara, Mexico	October 28, 2011

All times shown are in meters.

Final

The results were as follows:[1]

Rank	Name	Nationality	5.01	5.16	5.31	5.41	5.51	5.61	5.71	5.76	5.81	Mark	Notes
	Chris Nilsen	United States	–	–	o	–	o	o	o	xxo	xxx	5.76
	Augusto Dutra	Brazil	–	–	–	–	xo	xxo	xo	–	xxx	5.71
	Clayton Fritsch	United States	–	–	xo	o	o	xxo	xxx			5.61
4	Thiago Braz	Brazil	–	–	–	–	xo	xxx				5.51
5	Germán Chiaraviglio	Argentina	–	–	xo	o	xo	xxx				5.51
6	José Pacho	Ecuador	–	xo	xo	o	xxx					5.41
7	Dyander Pacho	Ecuador	o	o	o	xxx						5.31	PB
8	Jorge Luna Estes	Mexico	–	o	xxo	xxx						5.31
9	Andy Hernández Pedroso	Cuba	–	o	xxx							5.16
10	Lázaro Borges	Cuba	–	xo	xxx							5.16
	Walter Viáfara	Colombia	–	xo	xxx							5.16
	Antonio Ruiz Dobbs	Mexico	–	xxx								NH
	Natán Rivera	El Salvador	xxr									NH