The race for the nation's top height in the pole vault is just getting started.
On Saturday in Birmingham, Alabama, Scottsboro (AL) junior Maddox Hamm re-set the country's top clearance at the Last Chance Invitational, hitting 17 feet, 6 inches to secure his sixth straight win of 2022.
It was his fifth straight competition over 17 feet and was the second-best junior clearance in history, behind Mondo Duplantis' 19-1 mark from 2017.
Hamm's effort over 17-6 surpassed Madison Central's (KY) Wyatt Stewart's top clearance of 17-5.75, which the Kentucky athlete secured at the Texas Elite Pole Vault Expo Explosion on Jan. 1.
Both Hamm and Stewart, however, are just juniors, making the competition to 18-feet all the more interesting.
Only three athletes in high school history have cleared 18-feet indoors. That list includes Duplantis, Zachery Bradford (18-0.5, 2018) and Sondre Guttormsen (18-0, 2018).
