Vitaly Petrov was the first coach of the Ukrainian Sergey Bubka, which he took in technique foster care in 1974, when Bubka was just eleven years old. The relationship was broken on June 16, 1990 after 16 years of collaboration. He has also coached the Italian Giuseppe Gibilisco (2003-2007 and 2011) and the Russian Yelena Isinbayeva (2005-2010).[2] He was main coach of the Pole vault Centre in Formia, Italy.[3]
Petrov's innovation in the pole vault was the swing of the vaulter's legs later into the vault, thus retaining more of the energy and depending less on the recoil effect of the bent pole.[7]
^"The Man who Set 35 World Records". moti-athletics-histo.it. 27 April 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2013. Fabiana Murer is the fourth pole vault world champion guided by Vitaly Petrov
^"2011 IAAF WORLD CHALLENGE REVIEW". iaaf.org. Retrieved 2 January 2013. 'My main goal for the season is the World Championships, but I also want to get closer to 5m,' said Murer, who planned to train in Italy under the supervision of coach Vitaly Petrov