Vote Paul rigged to keep student in athletics event (4,5)
I believe the answer is:
pole vault
'athletics event' is the definition.
(I know that pole vault is a athletics event)
'vote paul rigged to keep student' is the wordplay.
'rigged' indicates an anagram.
'to keep' indicates putting letters inside.
'student' becomes 'L' (as in L-plates for learner drivers).
'vote'+'paul'='votepaul'
'votepaul' anagrammed gives 'poevault'.
'poevault' enclosing 'l' is 'POLE-VAULT'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for pole vault that I've seen before include "Athletic event" , "High-flying Olympic event" , "Sergey Bubka was world champion at this event" , "Field event -- value plot (anag)" , "Olympic field event" .)