Luke Arron Cutts (born 13 February 1988) is a British

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a #bar, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

er, who represented Great Britain at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. His personal best of set in 2014 is the British indoor record for the event. His outdoor best of puts him third on the all-time British lists. He represented Great Britain at the

World Junior Championships in Athletics The World Athletics U20 Championships is a biennial world championships for the sport of athletics organised by the World Athletics, contested by athletes in the under-20 athletics age category (19 years old or younger on 31 December in the yea ...

in 2006, the

European Athletics Junior Championships The European Athletics U20 Championships (formerly named the European Athletics Junior Championships up to 2015) are the European championships for athletes who are under-20 athletes, which is the age range recognised by World Athletics as jun ...

in 2007, then won a silver medal at the

2009 European Athletics U23 Championships The 7th European Athletics U23 Championships were held between 16 and 19 July 2009 in the S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium in Kaunas, Lithuania. Complete results and medal winners were published. Men's results Women's results Medal table ...

. At his first three senior international championships (

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15 to 23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenbu ...

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...

and

2012 European Athletics Championships The 2012 European Athletics Championships were held in Helsinki, Finland between 27 June and 1 July 2012. This edition marks the beginning of a new two-year cycle of the European Athletics Championships which were previously held every four years. ...

) he failed to progress beyond the qualifying round. He quit work as an overnight labourer in a lorry depot to focus on pole vault full-time at the start of 2013 which brought an upturn in performances. He won the 2013 British Championship but was passed over for World Championship selection in favour of compatriot Steve Lewis. After a strong beginning to his indoor season in 2014 Cutts came back from a mid season neck injury to win a silver medal at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

Career

Early career

He was born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

; he began pole vaulting around 1999. In 2004 he was a junior champion in

weightlifting Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...

. In pole vault he cleared four metres that year and improved to in 2005. He was won the

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * AAA (video game industry) - a category of high budget video games *'' TripleA'', an open source wargame Mu ...

junior titles indoors and outdoors in 2006 and set a best of in competition at the

2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2006 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held from 15 August to 20 August at the Chaoyang Sports Centre in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China ...

, where he ranked ninth overall.Luke Cutts
Power of 10. Retrieved on 2 March 2014. An indoor clearance of brought Cutts the British junior record for the event in February 2007. He was runner-up at the British Indoor Championships and the British Outdoor Championships that year, but in his sole international outing he failed to record a valid mark at the

2007 European Athletics Junior Championships The 19th European Athletics Junior Championships were held between 19 and 22 July 2007 at the FBK-Stadium in Hengelo Hengelo (; Tweants dialect, Tweants: ) is a city in the eastern part of the Netherlands, in the Twente region, in the provinc ...

. A third-place finish at the British Olympic trials meant he did not attend the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, but he continued to improve, setting a mark of at the end of the year. Cutts' training based at the Dearneside Leisure Centre with his coach Trevor Fox combined a variety of methods including: improving upper-body strength, speedwork, gymnastics and vaulting technique. Emphasising all-round athletic skills, his performances progressively improved.Moss, Emily (18 December 2013)
How They Train – Luke Cutts
. ''

Athletics Weekly ''AW'' (formerly ''Athletics Weekly'') is a monthly track and field magazine published in the United Kingdom by Athletics Weekly Limited. The magazine covers news, results, fixtures, coaching and product advice for all aspects of track and field ...

''. Retrieved on 2 March 2014.

2009–2013, British titles

Cutts made his breakthrough as a senior athlete in 2009. A vault of to win the Northern England senior title was a new personal best and in the outdoor season he matched his best of to win his first national title at the

British Athletics Championships The British Athletics Championships is the premier national championship in track and field held in the United Kingdom, and are organised by British Athletics. The event has doubled as the main trials meet for international team selection for maj ...

. He was the silver medallist at the

with a new best of behind the favourite Raphael Holzdeppe. He was fourth at the

London Grand Prix The London Athletics Meet, formerly known as the London Grand Prix and subsequently as the Anniversary Games and London Diamond League, is an annual athletics event held in London, England. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix even ...

but faltered at the

, as he vaulted only and was eliminated in qualifying. His 2010 season also saw him perform poorly for Great Britain: after finishing third at the British indoor and outdoor championships he did not record a valid height at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

. He came near his best again at the 2011

Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix The Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix, formerly known as Aviva Indoor Grand Prix, is an annual indoor athletics competition which was last held in mid-February 2023 at the Arena Birmingham in Birmingham, England. It is one of a handful of events to h ...

, finishing second with , but his progression halted again as he no-heighted at the British trials. Despite the attraction of qualifying for the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, Cutts did not recapture his best form in the 2012 season either. He was out of the podium places at the national championships and his mark of was the lowest recorded in the field at the

. It was in 2013 that Cutts returned to his best form.Luke Cutts
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2 March 2014. Cutts quit his work doing 10-hour night shifts loading lorries at a depot at the beginning of 2013 to allow himself to focus full-time on pole vaulting. He added a centimetre to his personal best in Sheffield in July 2013 then won the second British outdoor title of his career in a new best of . More came at the London Grand Prix/Anniversary Games, where he defeated national rival

Steven Lewis Steven James Lewis (born 20 May 1986) is an English former pole vaulter. He won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games and his personal best jump of 5.82 metres, set in July 2012, is the former List of British records in athletics, British ...

and came fourth with another best of . Despite this,

UK Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (sport), athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics o ...

selected Lewis for the

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013; ) was an international athletics (sport), athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10 to 18 August 2013. Initially, Russia at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, Russia ...

instead. This decision attracted much criticism after Lewis finished last at the World Championships, failing to clear the bar.

2014–present, British record

Cutts established himself as the top British vaulter at the start of 2014. Following on from a personal best in December, he broke Nick Buckfield's 12-year-old British indoor record on his first attempt at a height of . He took his first British indoor title shortly afterwards, beating Max Eaves. At the Pole Vault Stars meeting his cleared , the second best performance of his career, but his runner-up placing was overshadowed by the winner,

Renaud Lavillenie Renaud Lavillenie ( or ; born 18 September 1986) is a French pole vaulter. Lavillenie won the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012 Olympics in London and the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, 2016 Olympics in Rio. In addition to ...

, who broke

Sergey Bubka Sergey Nazarovych Bubka (; ''Serhiy Nazarovych Bubka''; born 4 December 1963) is a Ukrainian former pole vaulter. He represented the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991. Bubka was twice named Athlete of the Year by '' Track & Field News ...

's long-standing world record with a mark of . Cutts entered the

2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was the fifteenth edition of the international indoor track and field competition, organised by the IAAF. The event was held between 7–9 March 2014 at the Ergo Arena in Sopot, Poland. Prepar ...

as the second ranked athlete (Lavillenie was injured while Malte Mohr had cleared . However having suffered a neck injury Cutts couldn't reproduce his strong form from earlier in the year and finished 8th. His neck injury hindered Cutts' preparation for the outdoor season but he still managed to produce a jump of 5.55m at the Commonwealth Games to take a silver medal behind his domestic rival Steve Lewis. At the 2016 Olympics, Cutts managed 5.45m to finish 12th in his qualifying pool.

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cutts, Luke Living people 1988 births Athletes from Sheffield British male pole vaulters English male pole vaulters Olympic male pole vaulters Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain British Athletics Championships winners Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games 21st-century English sportsmen Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics