Shawn Barber just wants to 'jump big bars' again

It's 10 days before the Diamond League final in Brussels and Shawn Barber is rhyming off his to-do list: Increase runway speed, gain more jump on the takeoff and fine tune elsewhere.

"The only constant in pole vaulting is making adjustments as the season goes," he says. "You have to make sure the changes are in the right direction and beneficial."

The Canadian-born athlete's latest tweaks appear to be paying off as Barber followed up a 5.85-metre clearance in Poland on Aug. 17 — his second-highest of the season — with a jump of 5.83 to finish third at Friday's Diamond League final in Brussels. Barber also set an indoor season-best of 5.86 on Aug. 29 at an exhibition event in Switzerland ahead of the first leg of the Diamond League final at Weltklasse Zürich.

At the main railway station in Zurich, the 24-year-old Barber defeated world No. 1 Sam Kendricks, who finished second at the Diamond League final to Russia's Timur Morgunov, who took home the Diamond Trophy and $ 50,000 US top prize. Barber earned $ 10,000 for his efforts.

Watch Shawn Barber's journey to a 3rd-place finish:

"I've been moving past some problems I had with both my ankles the past couple of months and feel good physically," says Barber, a silver medallist at the Commonwealth Games in April. "In pole vaulting, it's rare when you feel 100 per cent."

Barber attributes part of his inconsistent performances this season — consider his jumps range from 5.40 to a season-best 5.92 — to being forced to borrow poles when his series of Altius carbon fiber models didn't reach flights on time and often arrived after he had competed at multiple events in a short period.

While the 2015 world champion takes pride in his ability to adjust and perform well on borrowed poles, it can test his mental strength.

"I jump on 5.38-metre poles, about 18 centimetres longer than the competition, which uses [a less stiff and heavier] fiberglass pole," says Barber, who will compete at the Continental Cup on Sept. 8-9 in Ostrava, Czech Republic. "The width of the pole always changes, the grip is a little different and that can affect your confidence. Everything adds up to being a little bit cautious when you jump, but if you have the chance to get into a rhythm with your own poles, it'll speak for itself."

New pole

On Wednesday, Barber had his own poles and was the lone member of the nine-man field to clear 5.41, 5.56, 5.71, 5.81 and 5.86 on his first try before attempting 5.91 three times without success.

The recent addition of a significantly stiffer 5.2-metre pole has only fuelled Barber's excitement for what could be achieved in the near future.

"It could put me into a range where I could [envision] some personal bests, performances such as [5.85] and being able to keep up with the people at the top [of the podium]," says Barber, while adding he hasn't gone above and beyond in training to consistently jump above six metres."

Following an international breakthrough in 2012 with a bronze medal at the world junior championships, Barber delivered a series of record-breaking results in 2015 on the NCAA circuit, including a 5.90 jump to win the Texas Relays for the University of Akron in Ohio, where he currently resides.

Barber went on to win gold at the Pan Am Games in Toronto with a vault of 5.80 and on July 25 raised the Canadian mark to 5.93 in London, England. He turned pro with a Nike contract later that year, foregoing his final year of university eligibility, after winning Canada's first world title in track and field in 12 years, in Beijing.

6-metre club

"That's the consistency I want to get back to, being able to jump big bars at all meets," says Barber, who was born in Kincardine, Ont., grew up in New Mexico but calls Toronto his hometown.

In 2016, a 21-year-old Barber broke his own national mark and became the youngest man to join the six-metre club indoors — which doesn't count as a record — at the Pole Vault Summit Reno, Nev.

But later in the year, things began to unravel.

• In July, Barber tested positive for cocaine at the Canadian championships/2016 Olympic qualifier in Edmonton, where he won and set the Canadian record at 5.71.
• Barber testified he didn't ingest the cocaine himself, that the drug entered his system as a result of kissing a woman he had met through the "casual encounters" section of Craigslist. Barber's account of the tryst stated the woman, without his knowledge, had taken cocaine before their hotel rendezvous.
• The Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada sided with Barber, rendering its decision four days before the Olympic men's pole vault final in Rio. Favoured to win a gold medal, the Canadian barely advanced through the qualifying round and finished 10th overall at his Summer Games debut. Barber didn't receive a suspension but was stripped of his 2016 national title.

This, after Athletics Canada banned his father, George, from coaching in 2015 after learning of his 2007 criminal conviction on charges of having sex with a student while he was employed at a U.S. high school. Until then, George Barber, who represented Canada as a pole vaulter at the 1983 world championships, acted as his son's coach.

"Just because you're stressed out with a situation in life, you have to find a way to put that behind you and continue jumping as well as you can," says Barber, whose parents divorced years ago. "With family situations and different stressful situations in my past, I've learned to see the positives, move forward and still be able to put on a good performance."

He's more appreciative of the opportunities he has and doesn't want to waste them.— Shawn Barber's part-time coach, Jeff Hartwig, on the pole vaulter's shift in attitude

As Barber's part-time coach, Jeff Hartwig has watched him mature and take ownership of more things in life after becoming overly dependent on his university coaches, including retired Olympic sprinter Dennis Mitchell, who still works with the pole vaulter.

"Obviously, there were some other influences over the last couple of years that caused him some distraction," says Hartwig, a former pole vaulter and member of the U.S. Olympic teams in 1996 and 2008. "To see him get back on track has been great.

Shawn Barber discusses travelling as a pro athlete:

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"What I've seen with Shawn, probably over the last year, is a shift in attitude. He's more appreciative of the opportunities he has and doesn't want to waste them. He's the kind of guy you want to see do well."

Barber, whose having a "tremendous time jumping" these days, says a pole vaulter must experience some adversity in order to appreciate when they are in top form.

"At some point, you have to deal with a problem or something," says Barber, who announced he is gay in a Facebook post in April 2017. "I think I'm going through a lot of these problems early in my career and I'm gaining great perspective.

"It's going to lead to better performances and being a stronger, total athlete in the later years of my career."

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