Episode 92 - Luke Winder

“You don't know how many World Championships you go to. Hopefully a lot more after this. But the goal is to go in there and go to finals and compete for a medal.” Being the youngest in a family of great pole vaulters, Luke Winder was destined to be great. After winning a state title like his brothers and father, Luke went on to North Central where was a 7x National Champion and one time runner-up. He almost ran the table with eight straight national titles. Seeing his brother compete post-collegiately and a loss at the 2018 Outdoor National Champions, Luke knew he wasn’t done with pole vault just yet. Changing coaches during a Worlds year can be seen as a risky move. For Luke Winder, this change has helped his career tremendously and is a big reason why he’ll be pole vaulting at the World Championships. Why was this change so successful? He continued working with someone he trusts: his brother. Growing up in the Winder household, pole vault was always present. One rule that Tim Winder made for his sons about pole vaulting was they had to explicitly ask him to be their coach. Tim never wanted to force Pole Vault onto his sons and Luke attributes his addiction to vaulting to that reason. We touch on the mental fortitude needed to compete in pol vault and how Luke was able to work with his brother this year to make him mentally stronger to compete. The work paid off quickly after he went from no height at USAs indoors to qualifying for Worlds outdoors. Luke will be competing on July 22nd for the qualification round and July 24th is the final. Luke and his brother Jake took over their father’s Pole Vault facility. You can learn more about it here. Summer of Hayward Don’t miss out on all the action at the World Championships.  Get your Summer of Hayward Tickets now! D3 Glory Days Patreon We launched a Patreon! As we said, we will never go behind a paywall - so any support is greatly appreciated. This past season was a great undertaking in our labor of love. We enjoy bringing you this content and we realized we could do so much more with a little bit of backing. We want to ensure D3 gets the coverage it deserves and keeping this website paywall free! If you have enjoyed this podcast and the articles we have put, please consider becoming a Patreon of D3 Glory Days. In full disclosure, the money will go directly into the show: equipment, subscriptions we need, and most importantly, money to our writers. If you are able, we would appreciate your support. How to Support D3 Glory Days As always, we really appreciate your support of this podcast. If you’d like to help spread the word, share the podcast with a friend, or leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or leave a rating on Spotify! We launched a live D3 Track Show. Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss it. If you would like to help support the podcast or say thanks to our writers, please consider making a donation on the D3 Glory Days Venmo. This helps offset some costs, hosting services, and help out our new writers. If you want to rep D3 Glory Days on your next run, head to our Merch Store. And finally, follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter and Strava.