Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's pole vault

Men's pole vault at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Venue	Helsinki Olympic Stadium
Dates	July 21 (qualification) July 22 (final)
Medalists
Bob Richards   United States   Don Laz   United States   Ragnar Lundberg   Sweden

Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men
800 m		men
1500 m		men
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
80 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men
Road events
Marathon		men
10 km walk		men
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men
Combined events
Decathlon		men

These are the official results of the men's pole vault event at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. The final was held on Tuesday July 22, 1952.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Cornelius Warmerdam (USA)	4.77 m	Modesto, United States	23 May 1942
Olympic record	Earle Meadows (USA)	4.35 m	Berlin, Germany	5 August 1936

The following Olympic record was set during this competition.

Date	Event	Athlete	Time	OR	WR
22 July	Final	Bob Richards (USA)	4.55 m	OR

Results

Qualifying round

Qualification Criteria: Qualifying Performance 4.00 m advance to the Final.

Rank	Group	Athlete	Nationality	Best height	Notes
1	A	Petro Denysenko	Soviet Union	4.00
1	A	Tamás Homonnay	Hungary	4.00
1	B	Erkki Kataja	Finland	4.00
1	B	Ragnar Lundberg	Sweden	4.00
1	B	Jukka Piironen	Finland	4.00
6	A	Zeno Dragomir	Romania	4.00
6	B	Don Laz	United States	4.00
6	B	Lennart Lind	Sweden	4.00
6	B	George Mattos	United States	4.00
6	B	Bob Richards	United States	4.00
11	A	Rigas Efstathiadis	Greece	4.00
11	B	Erling Kaas	Norway	4.00
13	B	Valto Olenius	Finland	4.00
14	B	Viktor Knyazev	Soviet Union	4.00
15	A	Volodymyr Brazhnyk	Soviet Union	4.00
16	A	Theodosios Balafas	Greece	4.00
16	A	Torfy Bryngeirsson	Iceland	4.00
18	B	Bunkichi Sawada	Japan	4.00
19	B	Milan Milakov	Yugoslavia	4.00
20	A	Walter Hofstetter	Switzerland	3.90
21	B	Ron Miller	Canada	3.90
22	A	Tim Anderson	Great Britain	3.80
22	A	Geoff Elliott	Great Britain	3.80
22	B	Zenon Ważny	Poland	3.80
25	A	Hélcio da Silva	Brazil	3.60
26	A	Gamal El-Din El-Sherbini	Egypt	3.60
	B	Georgios Roubanis	Greece	–	NM
	B	José Vicente	Puerto Rico	–	NM

Final

The final was held on August 19.

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	3.60	3.80	3.95	4.10	4.20	4.30	4.40	4.50	4.55	4.60	Result
	Bob Richards	United States	–	–	o	o	o	o	o	xo	xxo	xxx	4.55 OR
	Don Laz	United States	–	–	o	o	o	o	o	xo	xxx		4.50
	Ragnar Lundberg	Sweden	–	–	o	–	o	xo	o	xxx			4.40
4	Petro Denysenko	Soviet Union	–	–	o	o	xo	o	o	xxx			4.40
5	Valto Olenius	Finland	–	–	–	o	xo	xo	xxx				4.30
6	Bunkichi Sawada	Japan	–	o	xxo	o	o	xxx					4.20
7	Volodymyr Brazhnyk	Soviet Union	–	o	o	o	xo	xxx					4.20
8	Viktor Knyazev	Soviet Union	–	o	o	xo	xo	xxx					4.20
9	George Mattos	United States	–	–	o	xo	xxo	xxx					4.20
10	Erkki Kataja	Finland	–	–	o	o	xxx						4.10
11	Tamás Homonnay	Sweden	–	o	o	o	xxx						4.10
11	Lennart Lind	Hungary	–	o	O	o	xxx						4.10
13	Milan Milakov	Yugoslavia	–	o	xo	xo	xxx						4.10
14	Rigas Efstathiadis	Greece	–	o	o	xxx							3.95
14	Torfy Bryngeirsson	Iceland	–	o	o	xxx							3.95
16	Erling Kaas	Norway	–	o	xxx								3.80
17	Theodosios Balafas	Greece	o	o	xxx								3.80
18	Jukka Piironen	Finland	–	xo	xx								3.80
18	Zeno Dragomir	Romania	–	xo	xx								3.80

References

• Official Olympic Report, la84.org.