An AP photographer positions himself for a unique view of a pole vaulter's failed attempt

Associated Press

14-03-2025

APELDORN, Netherlands (AP) — Peter 'Gramps' DeJong has been based in Amsterdam for The Associated since March 1989. He has covered both Gulf Wars, the fall of communism in Russia, Pakistan after the attacks of Sept. 11 and many other major news events.
Here's what he had to say about this extraordinary photo.
Why this photo?
Norway's Sondre Guttormsen, Greece's Emmanouil Karalis and Netherlands' Menno Vloon were competing for the gold medal on the men's pole vault at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn. Any jump clearing the height or failing to clear the height decides the outcome. Although several finals of different competitions were going on simultaneously, I felt I needed to be there for the last few jumps.
How I made this photo
Working the infield at an indoor athletics competition for a select group of only 10 photographers is subject to very strict rules due to the restricted space. Photographers are not allowed to either stand or lie down and are not allowed to be in the line of sight of the TV cameras. They are also not allowed to disturb athletes warming up or competing. When there are several events going on at the same time, this complicates our work even more.
I picked a spot under the pole vault from where you could see the athletes faces as they arch backward before falling into the mats (cushion) , and shot Guttormsen's jump a bit wider. He did not clear the height and came crashing down with the bar after letting go of his pole. I decided to shoot it with an 85mm f1.4, lower iso and higher quality for cropping, gambling on one of the athletes missing the height.
It was vital to get the images out fast and, hence, a thanks to Pavel Golovkin who edited this picture off the camera - toned and cropped - and thanks to Dusan Vranic, who edited the first three days of the championship.
Why this photo works