German pole vaulter Tim Lobinger (© Getty Images)
World Athletics is deeply saddened to hear that German pole vaulter Tim Lobginer, the 2003 world indoor champion, died on Thursday (16) at the age of 50 after a long illness.
Lobinger was one of the best vaulters of his generation and a regular competitor at major championships, known for his sometimes extravagant celebrations. During his long career, he competed at four Olympic Games, seven outdoor World Championships, six World Indoor Championships, four European Championships and eight European Indoor Championships.
He is also a member of the exclusive six-metre club, having cleared that barrier in 1997 and 1999.
Born in Rheinbach in 1972, Lobinger was a precocious talent and made his international debut at the 1990 World U20 Championships in Plovdiv. He missed out on making the final on that occasion, but he graduated to the podium at the European Junior Championships in 1991.
Just two years later, aged only 20, he made his senior championships debut at the 1993 World Championships on home soil in Stuttgart. It was to be the first of 29 senior international championship appearances across an 18-year span.
After clearing 6.00m for the first time in 1997, he won the European indoor title in 1998 and followed it with continental silver outdoors later that year. The second six-metre clearance of his career came in Oslo in 1999.
He regained the European indoor title in 2002 and claimed European bronze on home soil in Munich several months later. He then claimed world indoor gold in 2003, which was followed two years later by another European indoor bronze medal.
Lobinger achieved two more podium finishes in 2006, earning world indoor bronze and European silver.
His last outdoor championship appearance came at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, while the final major championships of his career was the 2011 European Indoor Championships, where he placed eighth, aged 38 at the time.
After retiring from athletics, he worked as a fitness trainer for various soccer players and teams.
In early 2017 he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukaemia. He underwent chemotherapy and made a good recovery, but the cancer returned in 2022.
World Athletics
