Conor Callinan continues to reach for the skies

The 17-year-old Leevale pole vaulter is the Irish U18 and U20 indoor record holder, clearing 4.65m last year and 4.75m last month to set those respective marks. And like many great vaulters, he comes from a gymnastics background.

Thu, 24 Feb, 2022 - 16:53

Cathal Dennehy

There are certain qualities you need to be an accomplished pole vaulter: good speed, great strength and superb gymnastic elasticity – the kind it takes to slingshot yourself five metres in the air and arc your body over a bar with a highly-specialised act of contortion.

Conor Callinan has all of the above. The 17-year-old Leevale athlete is the Irish U18 and U20 indoor record holder, clearing 4.65m last year and 4.75m last month to set those respective marks. And like many great vaulters, he comes from a gymnastics background.

“I was doing gymnastics since I was five, until aged nine, then I joined Leevale and did sprinting,” he says. “My coach there (John Naughton) suggested to maybe try the pole vault so at 13 I started, and it’s been going good ever since.”

How does one climb to such heights? Through a series of baby steps. “You start off with small poles, into the sand pit, then move onto the mat, onto the bigger poles, then bigger run-ups, then eventually you start jumping really high,” he says.

Coached by Derek Neff, much of Callinan’s winter training is done at Leevale’s High Performance Centre in Wilton, though the only drawback of that superb facility? The roof isn’t quite high enough for Callinan’s ability, meaning he has to venture to Nenagh or Dublin to vault indoors at full capacity.

Now in his fifth year at Coláiste an Chroí Naofa in Carrignavar, Callinan is one of the most promising Irish athletes to emerge in the field events, an area where standards lag far behind those on the track.

Just six Irishmen in history have cleared five metres, but Callinan looks well on track to become the seventh, and his domestic rivalry with Matthew Callinan Keenan – his chief competitor for gold at this weekend’s National Indoor Championships in Abbotstown – is driving standards higher.

“Even in my club it’s getting more popular, and a lot more younger athletes are starting in the event,” he says. “I’d like to bring it on a bit, and make it one of the standout events in Ireland.”

At global level the pole vault has become one of the sport’s main attractions, chiefly due to the exploits of Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis, the Olympic champion who holds the world record at 6.18m.

“It is getting such good screen time and Mondo has a huge part to play in that,” says Callinan. “He’s still only 22 and he’s going over six metres in nearly every competition, so obviously watching that is motivation for me. It’s hard to wrap your head around what he does.” Duplantis jumps with a 17-foot pole, while Callinan uses a 15-foot pole – the progression up through those ranks related to the speed and power a vaulter can generate.

Last June, Callinan won the national senior outdoor title in Santry, and if he can match that feat indoors this weekend – all at the age of just 17 – it’d be a fine platform to launch a career that’s heading firmly skyward.