Luke Cutts (born 13 February 1988 in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) is a British

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. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

er. His personal best of set in 2014 is the British indoor record for the event. His outdoor best of puts him third on the all-time British lists. He represented Great Britain at the

World Junior Championships in Athletics The World Athletics U20 Championships is a biennial world championships for the sport of athletics organised by the World Athletics, contested by athletes in the under-20 athletics age category (19 years old or younger on 31 December in the ye ...

in 2006, the

European Athletics Junior Championships The European Athletics U20 Championships (formerly named the European Athletics Junior Championships up to 2015) are the European championships for athletes who are under-20 athletes, which is the age range recognised by World Athletics as jun ...

in 2007, then won a silver medal at the

2009 European Athletics U23 Championships The 7th European Athletics U23 Championships were held between 16 and 19 July 2009 in the S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium in Kaunas, Lithuania. Complete results and medal winners were published. Men's results Women's results Medal ta ...

. At his first three senior international championships (

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

and

2012 European Athletics Championships The 2012 European Athletics Championships were held in Helsinki, Finland between 27 June and 1 July 2012. This edition marks the beginning of a new two-year cycle of the European Athletics Championships which were previously held every four years. ...

) he failed to progress beyond the qualifying round. He quit work as an overnight labourer in a lorry depot to focus on pole vault full-time at the start of 2013 which brought an upturn in performances. He won the 2013 British Championship but was passed over for World Championship selection in favour of compatriot Steve Lewis. After a strong beginning to his indoor season in 2014 Cutts came back from a mid season neck injury to win a silver medal at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

. He represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Career

Early career

He was born in the

; he began pole vaulting around 1999. In 2004 he was a junior champion in

weightlifting Weightlifting generally refers to activities in which people lift Weight training#Equipment, weights, often in the form of dumbbells or barbells. People lift various kinds of weights for a variety of different reasons. These may include various t ...

. In pole vault he cleared four metres that year and improved to in 2005. He was won the

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA) Arts, entertainment, and me ...

junior titles indoors and outdoors in 2006 and set a best of in competition at the

2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2006 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held from 15 August to 20 August at the Chaoyang Sports Centre in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China. ...

, where he ranked ninth overall.Luke Cutts
Power of 10. Retrieved on 2 March 2014. An indoor clearance of brought Cutts the British junior record for the event in February 2007. He was runner-up at the British Indoor Championships and the British Outdoor Championships that year, but in his sole international outing he failed to record a valid mark at the

2007 European Athletics Junior Championships The 19th European Athletics Junior Championships were held between 19 and 22 July 2007 at the FBK-Stadium in Hengelo, in the eastern Netherlands. Medal summary Men Women Medal table See also *2007 in athletics (track and field) ...

. A third-place finish at the British Olympic trials meant he did not attend the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

, but he continued to improve, setting a mark of at the end of the year. Cutts' training based at the Dearneside Leisure Centre with his coach

Trevor Fox Trevor (Trefor (disambiguation), Trefor in the Welsh language) is a common given name or surname of Welsh language, Welsh origin. It is an habitational name, deriving from the Welsh ''tre(f)'', meaning "homestead", or "settlement" and ''fawr'', ...

combined a variety of methods including: improving upper-body strength, speedwork, gymnastics and vaulting technique. Emphasising all-round athletic skills, his performances progressively improved.Moss, Emily (18 December 2013)
How They Train – Luke Cutts
. ''

Athletics Weekly ''AW'' (formerly ''Athletics Weekly'') is a monthly track and field magazine published in the United Kingdom by Athletics Weekly Limited. The magazine covers news, results, fixtures, coaching and product advice for all aspects of track and field, ...

''. Retrieved on 2 March 2014.

2009–2013, British titles

Cutts made his breakthrough as a senior athlete in 2009. A vault of to win the Northern England senior title was a new personal best and in the outdoor season he matched his best of to win his first national title at the

British Athletics Championships The British Athletics Championships is the premier national championship in track and field held in the United Kingdom, and are organised by British Athletics. The event has doubled as the main trials meet for international team selection for maj ...

. He was the silver medallist at the

with a new best of behind the favourite

Raphael Holzdeppe Raphael Marcel Holzdeppe (born 28 September 1989) is a German pole vaulter, who was world champion at his event. He lives in Zweibrücken in Germany and represents the sports club LAZ Zweibrücken. Biography Holzdeppe, who is of African origin, w ...

. He was fourth at the

London Grand Prix The London Diamond League, formerly known as the London Grand Prix and subsequently as the Anniversary Games, is an annual athletics event held in London, England. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Dia ...

but faltered at the

, as he vaulted only and was eliminated in qualifying. His 2010 season also saw him perform poorly for Great Britain: after finishing third at the British indoor and outdoor championships he did not record a valid height at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

. He came near his best again at the 2011

Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix The Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix, formerly known as Aviva Indoor Grand Prix, is an annual indoor track and field competition which is held in mid-February at the Arena Birmingham in Birmingham, England. It is one of a handful of events to hold IAA ...

, finishing second with , but his progression halted again as he no-heighted at the British trials. Despite the attraction of qualifying for the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, Cutts did not recapture his best form in the 2012 season either. He was out of the podium places at the national championships and his mark of was the lowest recorded in the field at the

. It was in 2013 that Cutts returned to his best form.Luke Cutts
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2 March 2014. Cutts quit his work doing 10-hour night shifts loading lorries at a depot at the beginning of 2013 to allow himself to focus full-time on pole vaulting. He added a centimetre to his personal best in Sheffield in July 2013 then won the second British outdoor title of his career in a new best of . More came at the London Grand Prix/Anniversary Games, where he defeated national rival Steven Lewis and came fourth with another best of . Despite this,

UK Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (sport), athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics o ...

selected Lewis for the

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013) () was an international athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10–18 August 2013. Initially, Russia won the most gold medals to top the table for the first time since 200 ...

instead. This decision attracted much criticism after Lewis finished last at the World Championships, failing to clear the bar.

2014–present, British record

Cutts established himself as the top British vaulter at the start of 2014. Following on from a personal best in December, he broke

Nick Buckfield Nicholas ("Nick") Jean Buckfield (born 5 June 1973) is an English former pole vaulter. Athletics career During his youth he was a talented footballer, turning down a youth training contract with Aldershot F.C. at the age of 16. He was educated a ...

's 12-year-old British indoor record on his first attempt at a height of . He took his first British indoor title shortly afterwards, beating Max Eaves. At the

Pole Vault Stars Pole Vault Stars is an annual indoor pole vaulting competition which is typically held in February at the Druzhba Palace of Sports in Donetsk, Ukraine. The meeting was founded in 1990 by Sergey Bubka, the pole vault world record holder who grew up ...

meeting his cleared , the second best performance of his career, but his runner-up placing was overshadowed by the winner,

Renaud Lavillenie Renaud Lavillenie ( or ; born 18 September 1986) is a French pole vaulter. Lavillenie won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London and the silver medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. In addition to his Olympic success, he has won three Wor ...

, who broke

Sergey Bubka Sergey Nazarovych Bubka ( uk, Сергій Назарович Бубка; 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 ''Tr ...

's long-standing world record with a mark of . Cutts entered the

2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was the fifteenth edition of the international indoor track and field competition, organised by the IAAF. The event was held between 7–9 March 2014 at the Ergo Arena in Sopot, Poland. Prepar ...

as the second ranked athlete (Lavillenie was injured while Malte Mohr had cleared . However having suffered a neck injury Cutts couldn't reproduce his strong form from earlier in the year and finished 8th. His neck injury hindered Cutts' preparation for the outdoor season but he still managed to produce a jump of 5.55m at the Commonwealth Games to take a silver medal behind his domestic rival Steve Lewis. At the 2016 Olympics, Cutts managed 5.45m to finish 12th in his qualifying pool.

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cutts, Luke Living people 1988 births Sportspeople from Sheffield British male pole vaulters English male pole vaulters Olympic male pole vaulters Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain British Athletics Championships winners Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games