GERMAN MEETINGS – German pole vaulter Spiegelburg in record form in Leverkusen – European Athletics (EAA) – News

Silke Spiegelburg cleared a German indoor pole vault record of 4.77m at the North Rhine indoor championships in Leverkusen on Sunday.

The 2012 world-leading mark added a centimetre to her own record from last February in Karlsruhe.

"I am completely overwhelmed and surprised. I will need one day to realize what has just happened,” said the silver medallist at the 2010 European Athletics Championships as well as at the last two European Athletics Indoor Championships.

She moves up to fourth on the European indoor all-time list after her record leap in Leverkusen.

Spiegelburg, now 25, needed two attempts to get over 4.40m before sailing straight over 4.55m. However, she then needed three jumps to master 4.65m but went over the new record height at the first time of asking and then decided to call it a day.

Video of her record leap can be seen on the German athletics federation website here. https://www.leichtathletik.tv/v/silke-spiegelburg-steigert-deutschen-hallenrekord

The indoor arena in Leverkusen clearly has something special to offer pole vaulters as Karsten Dilla cleared an impressive indoor best of 5.72m while the Greek guest Konstantinos Filippidis went over 5.60m.

Elsewhere in Germany over the weekend, the 2010 European Athletics Championships 100m gold medallist champion Verena Sailer returned to action after more than seven months rehabilitating a hamstring injury which ruined her 2011 summer season and caused her to miss the World Championships last summer.

She ran over 60m in Karlsruhe and clocked 7.33 in her heat and then 7.34 in the final of her regional championships. Her last race was a disappointing seventh over 100m at the Samsung Diamond League meeting in Oslo last June.

“I'm completely injury and pain-free, and very happy. It feels good to finally be able to train properly, without having to constantly listen to my body after every training session and being afraid that I'll be injured again. And now, hopefully, it will stay that way,” said Sailer.

“However, I was really nervous before the race, the whole week I was excited. It's been almost eight months since my last competition,” she added.

 European Athletics (EAA) – News