pole vaulter vs athlete

pole vaulter and athlete both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
pole vaulter	Yes	No	No	No
athlete	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, athlete is a hypernym of pole vaulter; that is, athlete is a word with a broader meaning than pole vaulter:

pole vaulter: an athlete who jumps over a high crossbar with the aid of a long pole
athlete: a person trained to compete in sports

Other hypernyms of pole vaulter include jock.

pole vaulter (noun)	athlete (noun)
an athlete who jumps over a high crossbar with the aid of a long pole	a person trained to compete in sports