Two of the standard bearers of European pole vaulting in recent years Pawel Wojciechowski from Poland and Germany’s Raphael Holzdeppe, the 2011 and 2013 world champion respectively, have both announced their retirements.
Wojciechowski competed for the last time at the Golden Sand pole vault meeting in Międzydroje on Saturday (17) where he cleared 5.00m to finish seventh in front of his home supporters.
Wojciechowski retires with a lifetime best of 5.93m from 2017. But it was six years prior when he came to prominence by winning a surprise gold medal at the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu only six weeks after winning the European U23 title.
Wojciechowski would return to the top of the podium in a major event at the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
“Whatever you say, it was a great career. When I started it, I would have taken it blindly,” said Wojciechowski. “As a true athlete, I finish unsatisfied, because obviously I wanted to jump higher. I am happy that I survived until this moment in good health. It was definitely the last jump.”
Wojciechowski’s successor as world pole vault champion Raphael Holzdeppe also vaulted for the final time in his career last week. Competing in his hometown of Zweibrucken, the 34-year-old also vaulted 5.00m at the ‘Sky’s the Limit’ meeting on Thursday (15).
"I saw so many people who have been part of my career today - whether they jumped with me or were here as spectators. There were also surprise visits and people with whom I graduated from high school here in Zweibrücken, who I haven't seen for years. It was simply a wonderful day for me, exactly as I had imagined it,” said Holzdeppe as quoted by Leichtathletik.de.
Holzdeppe vaulted to gold at the 2013 World Athletics Championships in Moscow, fulfilling the vast and exciting promise he showed as a youngster.
He won the world U20 title in 2008 and also cleared a world U20 record of 5.80m in the same year, performances which led Holzdeppe to be crowned men’s Rising Star for the year at the Golden Tracks award ceremony.
Holzdeppe also won bronze medals at the 2012 European Athletics Championships and at the 2012 Olympic Games as well as silver at the 2015 World Athletics Championships.
“All those years were so much better than I could have ever imagined,” said Holzdeppe who won his last domestic medal this winter with silver at the German Indoor Championships.
Holzdeppe retires with a lifetime best of 5.94m which puts him sixth on the German all-time list.