This is something else I am happy about. I seem to still be able to shape up the run like I used to. See how I get taller and taller as I come in to the takeoff? On my last step my left leg is amost perfectly straight as it impacts the runway. I don't think I can possibly reach higher with my right arm either. Here is what I wrote earlier about the technique for doing this, and I am jazzed that I can still do it.
I found that when I got as tall as possible while still being able to accelerate coming in to the plant a dynamic takeoff was easier to accomplish. I did this by pulling my abs in and my chest up and then slightly shortening my stride as I came in to the takeoff. This made me feel that my foot strike was more beneath me than in front. I was able to accelerate while doing this because as I got taller my turnover increased by more than enough to compensate for the slight decrease in stride length. I also inhaled as much as possible just before takeoff to spread my ribcage and gain a few more centimeters of reach. In my experience, if there is any slack in the body when the pole hits the back of the box, that slack must be taken out before the vaulter can leave the ground. This is an energy leak. The pole is bending and nothing positive is happening to the athlete. The pole and the vaulter become mistimed, the trail leg is short, and the swing is late, and all kinds of awful things result; anything from flagging out to coming up short.
This is different from the long jump takeoff in that there is no deliberate penultimate step. It is about getting tall and then driving in and up off of that tall position. The ideal feeling is that you get lighter and taller and faster coming in to takeoff till you are so fast and light and stretched out that all you have to do is push the ground away without giving up anything in terms of forward momentum.
I once asked Mike Connolly about this technique, and he told me that this was the only other way to do a world class long jump besides the conventional method of lowering the center of gravity in the penultimate step and then jumping up off of the board. He also said that it was very rare.
Don Hood once asked how it was that Joe Dial and I had plants as tall as Billy Olson when we were so much shorter. It was a trade secret at that time so we didn’t tell, but this is how we did it.
This was long before the days of the free takeoff, and Bubka was still a total mystery, so take it for what it is worth. I suppose you could call this a proto-free takeoff. We were on the right track, and I wonder how these ideas would fit in with modern theories
. I have the video of the 17'7, i will upload it soon so you can compare somewhat. The similarities i notice are a big take off and an extremely strong swing. Also slight balling up before connecting to the pole on top. However you seem a lot taller at take off, with a very good take off angle. I think thats probably attributed to what you are talking about above.