Significance. The number of pole vaulters has markedly increased since the event was added to the women's track & field program. Many of them have learned vaulting at a later stage of their athletic careers. Reasons include lack of vaulting facilities at younger age, switching from another event, or picking up pole vault as a new event for masters events. One of the key points to learning pole vault is a carefully designed and thorough learning program. While there are numerous publications on the biomechanics of elite pole vault technique, a lack of information exists concerning the beginners' movements. The objective of this study was to gain biomechanical information of the pole vault technique used by adult learners. Design. Forty-seven female and 44 male well-trained university students that were beginners to pole vault participated in an eight-week, one lesson per week learning unit on pole vaulting. They participated in traditional learning drills, followed by the commonly accepted short-approach vault attempts, and finally, a short-approach pole vault competition. Besides registering their best vaulting results achieved from six and eight stride run-ups, data were collected about their vaulting height-grip height differential (VGD), run-up speed, and maximum running speed while carrying the pole. Results. By the end of the eight weeks the women averaged 1.87 ± 0.14 m using the six stride, and 2.10 ± 0.17 m using the eight stride run-up, while the men's average result was 2.12 ± 0.17 and 2.36 ± 0.20 m, respectively. While top level athletes have positive VGD (i.e. the vaulting result is higher than their grip height), our subjects had negative values. However, with increased run-up length, the absolute value of VGD significantly dropped, from -0.77 ± 0.12 m to -0.65 ± 0.17 m for women and from -0.69 ± 0.18 m to -0.54 ± 0.20 m for men, which is an indication of improved vaulting technique. In addition, with an increased run-up length both the running speed and the grip height were significantly higher. On the other hand, even the speed of the eight stride run-up was significantly lower than the maximum running speed. Accordingly, limiting the length to eight strides at the beginning stage of the learning process proved to be a safe method. However, our VGD data indicated that along with the improvement of vaulting technique, gradually adding running strides to the run-up is essential for creating an effective whereas secure learning environment.Keyword(s): coaching, motor skills