Benjamin, Sean and Jacob clear same height to break National Schools A Division pole vault mark

It looks like an unusual situation occured in the A Boys pole vault final at the 51st Schools Nationals Track and Field Championships today.

Chua Da Wei’s record of 4.31, which was set in 2006, was finally broken today, not once, not twice, but three times.

But the three pole vaulters all cleared the same height – 4.40m.

The three vaulters were Benjamin Ng and Sean Lim (both from Hwa Chong Institution) and Jacob Yao (Raffles Institution).

It looks like Benjamin probably won the gold in the end by countback. And likewise, Jacob probably pipped Sean to the silver in the same way.

I am wondering whether the record books will reflect all three students’ names or whether Bejamin’s will be the only one by virtue of his gold.

I must say I am surprised by Sean’s cleared height though.

After all, the 17-year-old was in sensational form after his record-breaking 4.36m effort in the B Division final at last year’s Championships. His purple patch saw him soaring as high as 4.61m in other competitions en route to breaking the national junior record.

It also booked him his tickets to the World Youth Championships and the South-east Asian Games.

I’m wondering if he was subsequently injured in the tail-end of 2009 and whether he is currently trying to regain his old form after recovering.

I would appreciate it if anyone who has any information about this, can drop me a line.

In the meantime, my heartiest congratulations to the trio. Well done, guys!

Yours in sport

Singapore Sports Fan