Earlier today, Michalis Nikitaridis wrote, >A 14-year-old Greek girl, Katerina Stefanidou, broke the junior's and U18 >records for Greece, clearing 4.14m in the Greek U18 National Championships. >This mark is the an all time world best among 14-year-olds athletes in the >women's pole vault.
Stefanidou (bd 4 February 1990) not only crushed the record for 14-year-olds with her 4.14m (13'7"), but bettered that for 15-year-olds, as well. To put her accomplishment in perspective, I'll reprint part of a summary of best heights of young vaulters I sent to t-and-f last October: Most readers of this mailing list will know that age-level competitions usually are categorized on the basis of the age of the athlete on the last day of the year when the event is held. Since many of the marks I found for the young vaulters were attained in open events, and since I was interested in physical age, not in competition category, my summary considers actual age on the date of the performance. For those who may be more comfortable with imperial measures, conversions of the best for each age are: Age 12 3.60m 11'9 1/2" Age 13 3.90m 12'9 1/2" Age 14 4.10m 13'5 1/4" Age 15 4.05m 13'3 1/4" Age 16 4.31m 14'1 1/2" In greater detail, the top ten marks for each age level, where this many were available, were: -12- 3.60 Vicky Parnov AUS 24.10.90 5= Gold Coast 12 Apr 2003 -13- 3.90 Annu Mäkelä FIN 20.9.82 1-17 Somero 10 Jul 1996 3.90 Ekateríni Stefanídou GRE 4.2.90 7 Haniá 9 Jun 2003 3.70 Natascha Brenner GER .90 1 Homburg 21 Sep 2003 3.65 Samantha Shepard USA 11.11.83 2-HS Raleigh NC 14 Jun 1997 3.61 Minna Nikkanen FIN 9.4.88 1-13 Turku 29 Jul 2001 -14- 4.10 Lisa Ryshich GER 27.9.88 1-17 Mannheim 21 Jun 2003 4.00 Wu Sha CHN 21.10.87 1 Jinan 17 Aug 2002 3.80 Hannah Olson GBR 29.1.88 1 Ashford 8 Jun 2002 3.76 Vanessa Boslak FRA 11.6.82 1 Saint-Quentin 29 Sep 1996 3.75 Silke Spiegelburg GER 17.3.86 1 Zweibrücken 26 Aug 2000 3.73 Floé Kühnert GER 6.3.84 1-14 Bad Sooden 4 Sep 1998 3.71 Henrietta French FIN 13.3.87 1-15 Mariehamn 22 Jul 2001 3.71 Kim Kühnert GER 9.5.88 1-15 Beckum 25 Aug 2002 3.70 Samantha Shepard USA 11.11.83 4-19 Edwardsville 27 Jun 1998 3.70 Annelie van Wyk RSA 28.5.84 2 Durban 6 Mar 1999 -15- 4.05 Amandine Homo FRA 24.12.80 1 Miramas 29 May 1996 4.01 Annika Becker GER 12.11.81 1 Schelklingen 29 May 1997 4.00 Silke Spiegelburg GER 17.3.86 1-17 Debrecen 14 Jul 2001 4.00 Mariya Pastukhova RUS 19.4.87 1-17 Cheboksary 19 Jun 2003 4.00 Charmaine Lucock AUS 8.4.87 3-17 Sherbrooke 13 Jul 2003 4.00 Kim Kühnert GER 9.5.88 4-17 Sherbrooke 13 Jul 2003 3.90 Vanessa Boslak FRA 11.6.82 5 Villeneuve d'Ascq 29 Jun 1997 3.90 Annu Mäkelä FIN 20.9.82 1-17 Somero 10 Jul 1998 3.90 Wu Sha CHN 21.10.87 5= Nanning 5 Apr 2003 3.89 Kacey Lundgren USA 25.11.86 2-HS Norwalk CA 1 Jun 2002
