Per Nilsen The Vault Pdf 16
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Nilsen graduated from Park Hill High School in Kansas City, Missouri.[2] Nilsen was raised in hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. Nilsen set the United States high school record in the pole vault at the Missouri Class 5 sectional meet with a clearance of 5.61 m (18 ft 5 in).
Nilsen is a six-time NCAA Division I First Team All-American, and a three-time NCAA Track and field Pole vault champion.[4] Nilsen holds South Dakota Coyotes school records in the Pole vault indoor 5.80 m (19 ft 0 in) and outdoor 5.86 m (19 ft 3 in).[5]
Nilsen honored as 2017 Summit League Indoor Field Athlete of the Year and 2017 Summit League Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year. Nilsen honored on The Bowerman Watch List throughout the 2017 outdoor season.
Nilsen won 2018 Texas Relays clearing 5.80 m (19 ft 0 in), later battled Sam Kendricks at 2018 Drake Relays where he cleared 5.78 m (19 ft 0 in) and described the competition in Des Moines, Iowa to Sioux City Journal.[6]
Nilsen placed second at 2019 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships and won the pole vault title in an NCAA Men's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships meet record at 2019 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Nilsen jumped a then indoor personal best of 5.93 m (19 ft 5 in) at the Devaney Sports Complex on February, 2020. This jump represented an Indoor NCAA Collegiate record, previously held by LSU Freshman, Mondo Duplantis which stood until February 2021 KC Lightfoot cleared 6.00 m (19 ft 8 in).
On June 21, 2021, Nilsen was the only pole vaulter to clear 5.90 m (19 ft 4 in) at the 2020 Olympic Trials, cementing his first place win and getting him a spot on the Olympic team, alongside Sam Kendricks and KC Lightfoot. He won the silver medal at the Olympic games in Tokyo with a jump of 5.97 m (19 ft 7 in), improving his personal best by two centimeters.[13] Nilsen was full of praise for the winner, Armand Duplantis. He compared the competition against Duplantis that evening as being a regular footballer "trying to emulate Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo" and that his superiority over the world's best pole vaulters was "impressive and ridiculous".[14]
Do you have to be crazy to jump five or six metres in the air on a bendy pole? Sometimes, it is a very fine margin between madness and genius, and pole vaulters know better than anyone about fine margins.
The USA's Chris Nilsen has been one of the standout stars in the men's pole vault in recent years, and one of the few who has managed to beat Olympic champion and serial world record breaker Mondo Duplantis.
The pole is carried at full speed down the forty-metre runway, where it is planted firmly into the metal box at the foot of the bed. "The goal of the run is to progressively build speed. I like to have a slow methodical start," says Nilsen.
Once planted in the box, the pole will initially bend, before springing back and catapulting the athlete high into the air. "As the pole starts to unbend, you will start to swing completely upside down, feet up and head down."
This is the business end of the vault, where it is all about propelling yourself over the bar. With a personal best like Nilsen's of 6.05m, that means twisting like a salmon at a height which most people could only ever dream of jumping.
ROSS MARTIN/Citizen photo
Park Hill senior Chris Nilsen reacts after he cleared 18 feet, 4 3/4 inches in the Class 5 Sectional 4 pole vault competition Saturday, May 21 at North Kansas City District Activities Complex in Kansas City, Mo. The vault set a new national high school record.
ROSS MARTIN/Citizen photo
Park Hill senior Chris Nilsen clears 18 feet, 4 3/4 inches in the Class 5 Sectional 4 pole vault competition Saturday, May 21 at North Kansas City District Activities Complex in Kansas City, Mo. The vault set a new national high school record.
"I had all of the people I really, truly care about here," Nilsen said. "I had my coaches and friends watching me. It was just really a spectacular moment. I think that's what motivates everybody. When they have the people they love most around them, that's when they do the best."
Next week, Nilsen will compete in the Missouri State Track and Field Championships for just the second time, looking for a second Class 5 title with a chance to set the bar even higher. He set a personal record last season in District 8 and Sectional 4 compeitition before going 17-0 at state to break the 22-year-old record of Mount Vernon's Bruce Dial.
Committed to vault at South Dakota, Nilsen went up to 17-1, a record-setting 17-6 1/2 in the prestigious Kansas Relays and 18-0 in the Suburban Conference Red Division championships. That effort made him just the ninth in high school history to clear 18 feet or better.
After an "off day" last weekend in District 8 competition, winning at 16-9, Nilsen won the Sectional 4 title at 16-6 before going up to 17-0 and 17-6. He then asked for 18-4, taking aim at the national record.
Nilsen missed on his first two attempts, and he grazed the bar as he went over on possibly his last try, only to receive a clean bounce. After landing on the mat, Nilsen received a huge hug from jubilant girlfriend Kelly Vogel before starting to celebrate.
An official came over to verify the process, and thankfully, no one had started to adjust the bar for an even higher attempt. Requiring a ladder, large measuring stick and tape measure, the verification process required measurements at three points along the bar.
Nilsen's next goal could be to reach the U.S. Olympic Trials qualifying mark of 5.65 meters or about 18 feet, 5 3/4 inches. He considered going higher Saturday, but after the long delay, he ended the competition and proceeded on to compete in the high jump.
All season, Nilsen came in at 16-0 with most competitions over when he started vaulting. The somewhat risky strategy continues to pay off, keeping him fresh. He doesn't plan to change the process at state when he will look to first win another title before also looking to break his own meet record and possibly take one last shot at the Olympic Trials qualifying height while wearing a Park Hill uniform.
Kansas City native and Park Hill High School alum Chris Nilsen seeks his 5th global championship medal and his first world title this afternoon in Glasgow, Scotland at the World Indoor Championships.
Nilsen cleared a season's best 6 meters/19-8.25 at the USA Track and Field Indoor Championships two weeks ago in Albuquerque, New Mexico to win the national title and 1 of 2 berths at the 3-day World Athletics Indoor Championships which conclude today in the United Kingdom.
That mark tied Lee's Summit native KC Lightfoot's world-leading season mark that hasn't been recognized by the international governing body, World Athletics. World Record holder Armand "Mondo" Duplantis moved past the pair two weeks ago, with a 6.02m/19-9 vault to
Nilsen, who broke the national high school record in the pole vault with his 19-4.75 clearance at Sectionals his senior year in 2016, has earned global championship medals with the 2021 Olympic Games silver medal, the 2022 world indoor bronze medal, the 2022 world outdoor silver, and tied for the 2023 world outdoor bronze medal.
Duplantis of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, competes for his mother's native country of Sweden, as he has dual citizenship of Sweden and the United States. Duplantis not winning would be big news as he owns 4 global championships and has broken the world record seven times.
The other Team USA member competing is Mississippi's Sam Kendricks, who is a 2-time World Champion and 5x global medalist. He sits 3rd on the official indoor season performance, with a season-best of 5.95m/19-6.25.
A three-time NCAA Champion for the Coyotes, Nilsen took home the silver medal at the pandemic-delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics last summer and followed up with a bronze at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in March.
He vaulted an outdoor best of 19-8.25 (6.00 meters) back home in Vermillion at the USD Twilight in May, but also owns the American Indoor Record of 19-10.25 inches (6.05 meters) from the Perche Elite Tour in France this past March.
Men's pole vault will consist of a qualification round on Friday, July 22, followed by the finals on Sunday, July 24. Nilsen is ranked No. 2 in the world behind Olympic champion Mondo Duplantis headed into the meet.
On the track, Nilsen's accolades precede him: two-time national champion, five-time All-American, 21-time Summit League athlete of the week, USD's pole vault record-holder, and he boasts the third-best indoor vault in NCAA history. But Nilsen attributes much of his success to the family that waits for him at home every night, "A lot of collegiate pole vaulters just do school and pole vault. I get to go home and Roman's not going to care what I jumped, [wife, Kelly]'s not going to care what I jumped. They're going to support me no matter what. It's nice to get out of the pole vault mindset, and just go home and be a father and a husband."
For Chris and his wife Kelly, pole vaulting has always been a common bond. "We met through pole vault", says Kelly. "We went to different high schools. The first time I said, 'I love you' was when he snapped a pole."
Natives of the Kansas City area, the high school sweethearts mutually decided on the University of South Dakota, so Chris could train under Olympic bronze-medalist Derek Miles. Kelly says, "When he got the call from Derek, I was psyched. I remember sitting in the bedroom with Chris and he was like, 'that was South Dakota', and I was like, 'it was South Dakota!"
Miles says, "I've never coached an athlete that had family responsibilities. Being able to go home after a bad day of pole vaulting... not that he has many of those... but if he does, he can play with his one-year old kid, and he can put a smile on his face. That's a positive thing. I think any pole vaulter, especially at an elite level has to be able to balance that."
That balancing act has proven difficult at times, but if nothing else, Chris has shown that he has the ability to rise above the challenges. "Marry your best friend", says Chris. "If you do that, then you'll probably be set for life."
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