Concerns over equipment standards at the 2026 African Senior Athletics Championships have intensified after two athletes reportedly lost their poles mid-air during pole vault events at the University of Ghana Stadium in Accra.

Addressing the incident, Ghana Athletics Communications Director, Charles Osei Asibey in an interview with Sporty FM clarified that athletes are not permitted to use personal poles during international competitions, stressing that all equipment used at the championships was supplied by the organisers.

“On two occasions, athletes lost their poles mid-air. Now, the question is, did the athletes bring their own poles or those were the poles provided for the competition?

“So, the international competition management, an athlete cannot bring his pole for competition. You cannot do that," he said.

According to Asibey, international athletics regulations require organisers to provide standardised competition equipment for all athletes to ensure fairness and safety.

“We have a standard competition equipment everyone uses. So, the facility you saw, it didn’t come from the athlete. It was equipment provided by the organisers or the host,” he explained.

The incident has raised fresh questions about the quality assurance procedures carried out before the start of the championships, especially after concerns emerged over technical and organisational challenges at the continental event.

“Why did we have that challenge? Is it that we didn’t do our quality checks or we didn’t properly examine those poles before making them available to the athletes?” he questioned.

“I don’t want to make any statement that will sound political. But the only thing I can say is that I feel if earlier, a day or two before the event, we had done some simulations, we would have realized there were problems with the pole.”

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