Army Reservist Qualifies for Rio Pole Vault

Army Reservist Qualifies for Rio Pole Vault

(This is a continuation of part 1 of this article)

By clearing this height, Kendricks set the new trials record, which was previously in the possession of Tim Mack. One would assume that Mack's presence at the event cheering Kendricks on would contribute to this accomplishment, and this is what happened. It was fitting that Mack be the person to hand the gold medal to Kendricks; a passing of the torch. After this great accomplishment, Kendricks said, "the meet record was a by-product of a lot of great jumping". He went on to say, "I was lucky enough to have a coach who had a plan."
(Check out these great 13 foot Pacer training poles).

Kendrick's coach is his father. After the achievement, they shared a beautiful moment of celebration and appreciation. Kendricks stated, "that was our goal, come out here and jump the bars like we did in practice". Most of this practice is done in Oxford. The last time Kendricks was at pole vault trials of this magnitude was for the previous Olympics. Upon arriving in Eugene – where the trials were held – for the 2012 trials, he was soon told that he had been replaced by some late additions. Just like that, he was not a part of it anymore. He then had to witness the events from the stands.

Kendricks, fortunately, sees the positivity in such situations: "I saw it as a blessing. It really allowed me to have a hard goal, not to be on the bubble again. An easy goal to set, but not necessarily easy to obtain when you don't know what future looks like. I made that promise, made stronger by fact I had to watch from sidelines".

About four months ago – March 2016 – Kendricks grabbed the silver medal at the world indoor championships; second only to the current Olympic gold medalist and world record holder, Renaud Lavillenie. This further boosted his reputation, therefore, expectations were kind of high for these trials.