Sam Kendricks prize money
Sam Kendricks has been paid $481,917 by the Diamond League, which ranks 6th of the 3,683 athletes the series has paid. It came from 64 paid finishes in the men's pole vault, 18 of them wins.
The Diamond League pays by finishing place and nothing else. A published card sets what first through eighth is worth, the same figure in every discipline at that meeting, and ninth pays nothing.
Every payment
Where he finished, and what the card paid for it
The 64 paid figures add up because none of them contains another: a place is paid once, at that meeting, so $481,917 is 64 separate amounts rather than a running total. It is 0.4% of the $113,397,000 the 224 meetings on this site paid out between them.
The World Championships
What Sam Kendricks did in Tokyo, 2025
| EVENT | PLACE | MARK | PAID |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's pole vault | 4th | 5.95 | $16,000 |
The 2025 World Championships paid Sam Kendricks $16,000 for one finish in Tokyo, against $481,917 from 64 Diamond League starts between 2015 and 2026. The championships page holds all 49 events and the $8,498,000 they paid out.
The Ultimate Championship
What Sam Kendricks did in Budapest, 2026
| EVENT | PLACE | MARK | PAID |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's pole vault | 6th | 5.80 m | - |
Sam Kendricks stood in one Ultimate Championship final in Budapest and finished outside the money. World Athletics pays the first three in each event, $150,000, $75,000 and $40,000, and publishes no rate below third, so there is no figure to put against where he finished. The championship page holds all 28 events and what each one paid.
The World Indoor Championships
What Sam Kendricks did indoors
| EVENT | PLACE | MARK | PAID |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's pole vault | 3rd | 5.90 | $10,000 |
The World Indoor Championships have paid Sam Kendricks $10,000 for one finish in Nanjing 2025, against $481,917 from 64 Diamond League starts between 2015 and 2026. The indoor championships page holds all 53 finals across two editions and the $4,632,000 they paid out.
The Olympic Games
What Sam Kendricks won in Paris
| EVENT | MEDAL | EARNED |
|---|---|---|
| Men's pole vault | Silver | - |
The silver in the men's pole vault paid nothing. Only a gold pays, so 97 of the 145 medals awarded on the athletics programme in Paris carried no money at all. The Olympic page holds all 48 golds, the $2,400,000 they paid and what the circuit pays the same champions.
Season by season
2015 to 2026, in the order it was won
| SEASON | STARTS | WINS | BIGGEST | PAID |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 5 | - | Prefontaine Classic | $19,500 |
| 2016 | 5 | 3 | Shanghai Golden Grand Prix | $37,500 |
| 2017 | 5 | 5 | Weltklasse Zürich | $90,000 |
| 2018 | 6 | 4 | AG Memorial Van Damme | $66,000 |
| 2019 | 7 | 4 | Weltklasse Zürich | $94,250 |
| 2020 | - | - | - | - |
| 2021 | 6 | 1 | Weltklasse Zürich | $42,000 |
| 2022 | - | - | - | - |
| 2023 | 6 | - | Prefontaine Classic | $29,000 |
| 2024 | 8 | - | Xiamen Diamond League | $40,750 |
| 2025 | 8 | - | Weltklasse Zürich | $26,000 |
| 2026 | 8 | 1 | London Athletics Meet | $36,917 |
season running total
2019 is the biggest of them, $94,250 from seven starts. No Diamond League meeting paid Sam Kendricks in 2020 and 2022, so those columns stand at nothing. The dimmer column behind each season is the running total, which reaches $481,917.
Around Sam Kendricks on the money list
Ranks 1 to 41
| # | ATHLETE | DISCIPLINE | WINS | PAID |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sandra Elkasević | Women's discus throw | 46 | $692,750 |
| 2 | Armand Duplantis | Men's pole vault | 35 | $607,250 |
| 3 | Noah Lyles | two disciplines | 24 | $530,000 |
| 4 | Christian Taylor | three disciplines | 28 | $512,250 |
| 5 | Caterine Ibargüen | two disciplines | 37 | $501,000 |
| 6 | Sam Kendricks | Men's pole vault | 18 | $481,917 |
| 7 | Renaud Lavillenie | Men's pole vault | 33 | $466,833 |
| 8 | Femke Broeders-Bol | three disciplines | 29 | $456,000 |
| 9 | Mariya Lasitskene | Women's high jump | 26 | $440,500 |
| 10 | Shericka Jackson | three disciplines | 19 | $429,250 |
| 11 | Karsten Warholm | three disciplines | 18 | $428,500 |
| 12 | Sifan Hassan | five disciplines | 16 | $424,250 |
| 13 | Faith Kipyegon | six disciplines | 23 | $423,000 |
| 14 | Marileidy Paulino | two disciplines | 25 | $420,500 |
| 15 | Marie Josée Ta Lou-Smith | two disciplines | 11 | $417,250 |
| 16 | Timothy Cheruiyot | four disciplines | 17 | $416,500 |
| 17 | Shaunae Miller-Uibo | three disciplines | 21 | $415,000 |
| 18 | Mutaz Barsham | Men's high jump | 23 | $409,833 |
| 19 | Joe Kovacs | Men's shot put | 18 | $406,500 |
| 20 | Dina Asher-Smith | two disciplines | 10 | $401,500 |
| 21 | Katerina Stefanidi | Women's pole vault | 15 | $394,500 |
| 22 | Valarie Sion | Women's discus throw | 20 | $389,000 |
| 23 | Soufiane El Bakkali | four disciplines | 22 | $388,500 |
| 24 | Yaroslava Mahuchikh | Women's high jump | 21 | $382,250 |
| 25 | Alison dos Santos | three disciplines | 22 | $380,500 |
| 26 | Elaine Thompson-Herah | two disciplines | 21 | $380,500 |
| 27 | Ivana Španović | two disciplines | 18 | $373,000 |
| 28 | Tom Walsh | Men's shot put | 13 | $372,000 |
| 29 | Pedro Pichardo | Men's triple jump | 17 | $370,500 |
| 30 | Barbora Špotáková | Women's javelin throw | 19 | $365,500 |
| 31 | Valerie Adams | Women's shot put | 30 | $361,500 |
| 32 | Daniel Ståhl | Men's discus throw | 13 | $355,750 |
| 33 | Jakob Ingebrigtsen | four disciplines | 19 | $348,000 |
| 34 | Chase Jackson | Women's shot put | 18 | $347,500 |
| 35 | Blessing Okagbare | three disciplines | 11 | $338,250 |
| 36 | Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce | two disciplines | 21 | $335,000 |
| 37 | Emmanuel Wanyonyi | two disciplines | 15 | $321,500 |
| 38 | Julien Alfred | two disciplines | 13 | $316,000 |
| 39 | Piotr Małachowski | Men's discus throw | 18 | $312,500 |
| 40 | Kirani James | Men's 400 m | 17 | $310,250 |
| 41 | Ryan Crouser | Men's shot put | 15 | $310,000 |
A slice of the same list the Diamond League hub ranks in full. Sam Kendricks is 6th of the 3,683 athletes the 224 meetings on this site paid, on $481,917.
Who else was in the money
The rest of the eight, at the meetings that paid Sam Kendricks most
Weltklasse Zürich 2019 paid $50,000 for 1st in the pole vault, one of thirteen in the field. Also paid that afternoon: Armand Duplantis, Piotr Lisek, Cole Walsh, Renaud Lavillenie, Chris Nilsen and Paweł Wojciechowski.
Weltklasse Zürich 2017 paid $50,000 for 1st in the pole vault, one of eight in the field. Also paid that afternoon: Paweł Wojciechowski, Piotr Lisek, Kurtis Marschall, Shawn Barber, Kévin Menaldo and Konstantinos Filippidis.
London Athletics Meet 2026 paid $20,000 for 1st in the pole vault, one of nine in the field. Also paid that afternoon: Armand Duplantis, Kurtis Marschall, Emmanouil Karalis, Sondre Guttormsen, Renaud Lavillenie and Menno Vloon.
Frequently asked questions
How much Diamond League prize money has Sam Kendricks won?
$481,917, which ranks 6th of the 3,683 athletes the series has paid across the 224 meetings on this site. It came from 64 paid finishes between 2015 and 2026.
What is Sam Kendricks's biggest Diamond League payday?
$50,000, for finishing 1st in the pole vault at the 2019 Weltklasse Zürich. That is a final, which is why it is the biggest: the final pays two to five times what the same place is worth at a series meeting.
How does the Diamond League decide what Sam Kendricks gets paid?
Entirely by where he finishes. The series publishes one rate card a season and applies it to every discipline at every meeting, so a win is worth the same in the men's pole vault as it is in the shot put on the same afternoon. Eight places are paid and ninth pays nothing. There is no bonus for a record and no share of a gate.
How many Diamond League meetings has Sam Kendricks won?
18 of 64, worth $268,000 between them. Eight of his appearances came at a final, which paid $157,000.
How much did Sam Kendricks win at the 2025 World Championships?
$16,000, from one paid final in Tokyo. The championships pay eight places in every event, $70,000 for a title down to $5,000 for 8th.
How much has Sam Kendricks won at the World Indoor Championships?
$10,000, from one paid final in Nanjing 2025. An indoor title pays $40,000 and the ladder runs six places deep, down to $4,000 for 6th, the same in every event on the programme and the same for a relay team.
Is this everything Sam Kendricks earns from athletics?
No. This is the Diamond League, which is one series of 224 meetings. The World Championships and World Indoor Championships money above is separate money from a separate payer, and none of it is added together here. It holds no national federation payment, no appearance fee and no sponsorship. What it does hold is every dollar the series itself paid him, priced off the card it published.
Where to next
The rest of the Diamond League money
Diamond League prize money ranks all 3,683 athletes across the $113,397,000 the 224 meetings on this site paid out. One place above Sam Kendricks is Caterine Ibargüen on $501,000, and one below Renaud Lavillenie on $466,833. Sam Kendricks is one of 659 United States athletes athletics has paid, and United States athletics prize money adds them up to $29,436,125 across all six competitions. For the event itself, see men's pole vault prize money. The series has paid out in 21 men's disciplines and Sam Kendricks has been paid in one of them. The biggest of the rest are men's 100 m, men's 800 m and men's 200 m. Every meeting he has raced is linked in the table at the top of this page, and London Athletics Meet has its own page across every edition of it. Away from the series, World Championships prize money is Tokyo 2025, $8,498,000 paid eight places deep in every event, and the full final is on the men's pole vault page. Ultimate Championship prize money is the 2026 championship in Budapest, $10,000,000 over three days, and the full final is on the men's pole vault page. Indoor championships prize money is the Nanjing 2025 and Toruń 2026 championships, $4,664,000 put up across 53 finals, and the indoor final is on the men's pole vault page.