I had a friend in high school who was a great athlete and his coach pointed out that no-one in our region at our age level did the pole vault, so he registered

I had a friend in high school who was a great athlete and his coach pointed out that no-one in our region at our age level did the pole vault, so he registered and got gold every time at the county then regional level for a while till others figured out they could join in. I remember his annoyance at the first meet where someone else showed up to compete and he had to actually put in effort.