If German pole vaulter Raphael Holzdeppe needed any confirmation that he is back at the height of his event, it has arrived in the past few days.
Firstly, he achieved a season’s best in Russia on Sunday and then three days later, he took that mark to a personal best in Azerbaijan.
In the countdown to his bid to retain his world title in Beijing in August, Holzdeppe finds himself in a good place a year after missing the European Athletics Championships with injury.
Holzdeppe finished second in the Super League of the European Athletics Team Championships in Cheboksary at the weekend, clearing 5.85m and losing only on countback to France’s triple European champion Renaud Lavillenie.
At the end, his predictions were spot on.
I am really happy, I did my season’s best and got 11 points for the team. It was almost the perfect day. My body is fit, so I am ready for the next competition.
Indeed he was ready because next stop was Baku on Wednesday, and a street athletics event on the sidelines of the European Games which is taking place there.
Organised by the Azerbaijan Athletics Federation, this EA Special Premium Permit meeting was a day to remember for Holzdeppe who went over at 5.92m, breaking his old best height by a centimetre.
5,92m in Baku! New Personal Best https://t.co/Zc72DuUryx
— Raphael Holzdeppe (@R_Holzdeppe) June 25, 2015
Even though he needed three attempts to go over at 5.82m, after that he cleared 5.87m and 5.92m to secure an excellent win before missing out on the German record of 6.02m.
He beat Brazil’s Thiago Braz, whose 5.87m brought him a South American record, with Poland’s Piotr Lisek third on countback with 5.82m.
It was a Russian one-two in the women’s event as Olga Mulina won on countback with 4.45m from Tatyana Shvydkina and Romana Malacova of the Czech Republic third with 4.35m.
A crowd deep into their thousands gathered to watch as both men’s and women’s competitions reached their climax with a men’s high jump being showcased on Thursday.