Stefanidi to compete in Saturday’s Ultimate Garden Clash

Greece’s Katerina Stefanidi will be one of three competitors in the Ultimate Garden Clash on Saturday, where she will be competing remotely from Athens.

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After the inaugural Ultimate Garden Clash took place two weeks ago (with three male pole vaulters), it was announced that a women’s version of the event will be held Saturday May 16. This will include Stefanidi, as well as American Katie Nageotte and Canadian Alysha Newman.

At the men’s event, the three participants made a collective 98 clearances (at 5.00 metres) in 30 minutes, and it was watched live by over 250,000 worldwide (and over one million people watched the broadcast within 24 hours of it being aired).

The three women have agreed to set the bar at 4.00 metres, with the winner being the athlete who can clear the bar the most times. They will be connected by a video link from their local training facilities, and the competition will be streamed on the World Athletics YouTube, Twitter and Facebook pages on Saturday starting at 7:00 PM Greece time. While Stefanidi will be competing in Athens, Nageotte will be streaming her attempts from Marietta, Georgia, USA, and Newman from Bolton, Ontario, Canada.

“At first when I watched the guys make 98 (36, 36, 26) bars I thought it would be impossible. But then when I tried it I wasn’t too far off. It’s a fun way for the women to take on the men. I feel like most people would expect the guys to win in a head-to-head, so if they did, it won’t mean too much. But I think the way this is designed it is very possible – or at least just as likely – that we beat them, either as a group, or individually. The reason it is important to win is so that we can have bragging rights for the rest of our careers [laughs]. But it is also important to show how competitive the women's pole vault is right now,” said Stefanidi.

On why 4.00 metres was chosen as the height, Stefanidi added “We calculated the equivalent to the guys’ 5.00m for elite women would have been around 3.85m, but we felt 4.00m was a more digestible number. So we are jumping at a relatively higher bar which might cost us a couple of clearances (each) but I think despite that, we can still aim for 100.”

Lastly, Stefanidi mentioned why she loves her sport so much. “For me competition is the reason I do athletics. I love pole vaulting but I love competing in pole vault more. As athletes we can’t just train to train. We need competitions to test not only what we have been working on but also our limits. I think competitions are even more important during these challenging times when we really don’t know when and where we will be able to come together in person to compete next. It increases motivation and gives clarity to training,” said Stefanidi.

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