Jeff Hartwig (born September 25, 1967 in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

) is an American

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.

Biography

In 1998, Hartwig set two North American records with and . The latter was an improvement of 16 centimetres from his personal best of from 1997. In 1999, he won US national championships by improving his own record to , and his current North American record of followed in 2000. Jeff Hartwig held the American record until July 27, 2019, when

Sam Kendricks Samuel Hathorn Kendricks (born September 7, 1992) is an American pole vaulter. He is a three-time indoor and six-time outdoor national champion (2014–2019), the Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's pole vault, 2016 Olympics bronze a ...

set the American pole vault record by jumping . His personal best indoor is , also an area record. Only

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 ...

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 ...

, Steven Hooker, and current world record holder

Armand Duplantis Armand "Mondo" Gustav Duplantis (born 10 November 1999), is a Swedish and American pole vaulter who competes for Sweden. Regarded as the greatest pole vaulter of all time, Duplantis is the current List of world records in athletics, world recor ...

have jumped higher in an indoor competition. With on 4 July 2004, Hartwig broke the world's best performance for men over 35 years; it lasted until 28 February 2024 when Renaud Lavillenie, aged 38, jumped . He also holds the world's best performance for men over 40 years at , achieved while placing second at the U.S. Olympic Trials, 29 June 2008. Hartwig has received the

Jim Thorpe James Francis Thorpe (; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete who won Olympic gold medals and played professional American football, football, baseball, and basketball. A citizen of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was ...

Award as the best American field events athlete in 1998 and 1999. Hartwig vaulted at Francis Howell High School (

Weldon Spring, Missouri Weldon Spring is a city in St. Charles County, Missouri, United States. The population was 5,326 at the 2020 census. History Weldon Spring was platted in 1864. The community took its name from a spring of the same name near the original town s ...

) and collegiately for Florissant Valley Community College and

Arkansas State University Arkansas State University (A-State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States. It is the flagship campus of the Arkansas State University System and the second-largest university in the st ...

. He has trained under the tutelage of USATF Hall of Famer and former world record holder Earl Bell for a number of years. Hartwig has been hired as the pole vault coach for MICDS High School in St. Louis. Aside from vaulting Hartwig also had another passion,

reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

s. For over 15 years Hartwig has been raising reptiles - mostly boas and pythons, but also

tortoise Tortoises ( ) are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin for "tortoise"). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like o ...

monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, Wes ...

iguana ''Iguana'' (, ) is a genus of herbivorous lizards that are native to tropical areas of Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. The genus was first described by Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti, J.N. Laurenti in ...

s, and

caiman A caiman ( (also spelled cayman) from Taíno language, Taíno ''kaiman'') is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within the Alligatoridae family (biology), family, the other being alligators. ...

s. Hartwig's first snake was a

Burmese python The Burmese python (''Python bivittatus'') is one of the largest species of snakes. It is native to a large area of Southeast Asia and is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Until 2009, it was considered a subspecies of the Indian pyth ...

named "Fore", which was given to him by fellow pole vaulter Lane Lohr. It was 1992 when Hartwig decided to give breeding a shot and was very successful in producing 23 baby pythons. Hartwig raises the snakes to sell to pet stores. Hartwig has been known to have more than 100 snakes on the premises. None of the snakes that Hartwig raises are venomous. In his free time, Hartwig also enjoys visiting zoos and giving presentations to local schools in his former hometown of Jonesboro, Arkansas. Hartwig's coach Earl Bell has referred to him as a 'modern-day

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Creat ...

'. Hartwig holds the current Masters Track and Field American Records in the M35 and M40 Pole Vault.

Achievements

Rankings

Hartwig has steadily climbed the ''

Track and Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includ ...

'' world rankings, peaking at number 1 in 2002.

Video Links

Flotrack Interviews of Jeff Hartwig

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hartwig, Jeff 1967 births Living people American male pole vaulters Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes for the United States Arkansas State Red Wolves men's track and field athletes American masters athletes World record holders in masters athletics Track and field athletes from St. Louis Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games 21st-century American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen