+++ PRESS RELEASE INDOOR MEETING KARLSRUHE 2020 +++

Fabian Dürr World champion and Telephone: 0721 782045-261 Email: [email protected] hopeful promise world- class competition Karlsruhe, 17 December 2019 Tickets: INDOOR MEETING Karlsruhe almost sold out - only 70 tickets remain

The men’s pole vault event at the INDOOR MEETING Karlsruhe promises world- class competition. The event will take place on Friday, 31 January 2020 in Hall 3 of the Karlsruhe Exhibition Centre. In addition to the world record holder from , who also holds the meet record with 5.91 metres, world champion Sam Kendricks, and ’s pole vault hopeful Bo Kanda Lita Baehre, are also in the line-up.

Sam Kendricks, the 27-year-old American from Oxford, Mississippi, defended his world record title from in in a first-class starting field, winning the gold medal at 5.97 metres. The Swedish European champion achieved the same height but won the silver medal based on the multiple-attempt rule. Kendricks has been one of the world’s elite pole vaulters since 2016. His personal best of 6.06 metres, achieved on 27 July 2019 in Des Moines, secured his place in the elite “six metre club”. His indoor performances at both the 2016 World Championship in Portland at 5.80 metres, and 2018 in Birmingham at 5.85 metres, won him the silver medal. His indoor best of 5.93 metres would represent a new indoor meeting record in Karlsruhe. Sam Kendricks is still missing an Olympic victory but is hoping to add this to his list of achievements at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. He won the bronze medal at the 2016 in with a jump of 5.85 metres, being defeated only by the Olympic champion Thaigo Braz da Silva, and Renaud Lavillenie.

In addition to Renaud Lavillenie and Sam Kendricks, Bo Kanda Lita Baehre, the fourth-place winner at the World Championships in Doha, will also be competing. The 20-year-old is considered one of the greatest German pole vaulting talents, having won numerous national and international titles in spite of his young age. In addition to fourth place at the World Championships in Doha with a jump of 5.70 metres, his greatest international success to date came in Gävle, in July this year at the U23 European Championships. He cleared 5.65 metres to win the gold medal and become the U23 European champion. Additionally, he won two silver medals at the 2016 U18 European Championship in Tiflis, and the 2018 U20 European Championship in Grosseto.

Lita Baehre has become a permanent fixture in German athletics. As early as 18, he duped the entire German pole vaulting elite at the 2017 German Championships in Erfurt, winning the German championship title, which he defended one year later in Nuremberg. This year, he narrowly missed his third consecutive German title in , when he finished second behind Raphael Holzdeppe with 5.71 metres, after previously winning the German Fabian Dürr Telephone: 0721 782045-261 Indoor Championship for the first time in Leipzig. Lita Baehre has also been Email: [email protected] successful in other athletic disciplines. In 2016 he won the German U20 Championship in the 4x100 metre relay with Bayer Leverkusen, where he is Karlsruhe, 17 December 2019 coached by Christine Adams. Since then however, his focus has shifted entirely to pole vaulting. His personal indoor best is 5.70 metres, but Lita Baehre has achieved 5.72 metres outdoors. Lita Baehre aims to fly high, but the 2018 German Young Athlete of the Year knows that the road to the top is a long one.

Tickets for the 36th edition of the INDOOR MEETING Karlsruhe are almost sold out. There are currently 70 tickets still available in Category II, while tickets in Category I are already sold out. Tickets are available at the Tourist Information Office in Karlsruhe, Kaiserstraße 72-74, 76133 Karlsruhe, by Ticket Telephone at 0721 25000, and online at www.ticketmaster.de.

World Athletics Indoor Tour 2020 Schedule: 25/01/2020: NewBalance Indoor Grand Prix (Boston, USA) 31/01/2020: INDOOR MEETING (Karlsruhe, GER) 04/02/2020: PSD Bank Meeting (Düsseldorf, GER) 08/02/2020: ORLEN (Torun, POL) 15/02/2020: Müller Indoor Grand Prix (Glasgow, GBR) 19/02/2020: Meeting international (Liévin, FRA) 21/02/2020: Madrid Indoor Meeting (Madrid, ESP)

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