Kinematics analysis of vertical and horizontal movement on collegiate pole vault athletes

Purpose Movement technique and velocity are very important in pole vaulting. This study aims to analyze the technique and velocity differences between successful and unsuccessful jumps. Material and methods This is quantitative research with a comparative design. There were 8 Male Collegiate Pole Vault Athletes (20 ± 1,389 years old) selected as research samples using a purposive sampling method. The kinematic analysis was conducted to analyze the technique of horizontal and vertical movement. The variables were observed in last four steps including distance, time, and velocity per step in the horizontal movement. The vertical movement variables were velocity and height of the approach run, plant, take off, swing up, turn, and fly away phases. The kinematics analysis of vertical and horizontal movement were analyzed by using video and Kinovea 0.9.5. The descriptive, normality, and comparative tests were analyzed by using SPSS 26. Results The data were mostly in the normal distribution. The parametric test was conducted to test the significantly different and non-parametric tests for the unnormal data distribution. A significant difference was observed between successful and unsuccessful jumps in both horizontal and vertical movements. In the horizontal movement, the difference is found in the velocity of the last step (p-value < 0.05). The average of successful jump velocity ( 7.480 ± 0.166) was faster than the unsuccessful jump (6.430 ± 1.999). Velocity differences in the vertical movement were found in the plant position, take-off position, and swing up position (p-value < 0.05). Conclusions The difference in velocity in the horizontal movement has the potential to support the velocity and height of the vertical movement.