European Athletics Championships
European Championship runner-up Lita Baehre wants to outperform staff ace Duplantis
Strong ambitions: Lita Baehre, who came second at the European Championships, wants to beat the world record holder Duplantis next. photo
© Sven Hoppe/dpa
The Leverkusen pole vaulter Bo Kanda Lita Baehre won silver at the European Championships. But he wants more, namely to surpass the world record holder Armand Duplantis and become the best.
After winning silver at the European Championships in Munich, Bo Kanda Lita Baehre challenged the super pole vaulter Armand Duplantis for supremacy in the world.
“I’m burning to be the best,” announced the 23-year-old from Leverkusen after winning his first medal in an international title fight. He already challenged the Swedish world record holder in the Olympic Stadium in 1972 – without really becoming a threat to him. In the end Duplantis defended the title almost weightlessly with 6.06 meters.
Failed attack on Duplantis
When he had jumped the 5.95 meters, Lita Baehre had the bar set at 5.95 meters after he had managed 5.85 meters and secured silver, in order to attack the high-flyer – which did not succeed. “It sobers you up, it pulls you down,” complained the 2019 World Cup fourth after the failed attack. Nevertheless, Duplantis is not superhuman and has just as much blood in his body as he does: “The silver medal is great, but I lost against one. If you end up having two such shit attempts, it pulls you down. I wanted to beat him.” On the other hand, he does not want to appear greedy and therefore “take the first medal and appreciate it”.
Lita Baehre: “I’m a loner”
In order to achieve his goal of becoming number one in the world, he doesn’t want to get involved with his competitors. “I have no friends in competitions,” said Lita Baehre, who competed in a black pirate headscarf. “I’m a loner and have few friends.”
The fact that he has already jumped 5.90 meters and is one of the best pole vaulters in the world is not a matter of course given a handicap since childhood. “I had cataracts when I was two weeks old. My lens was taken out and I only have 30 percent vision in one eye,” said the native of Düsseldorf. That’s why it wasn’t always easy, but it made him the person he is – a fighter who “always wants to be better than the others”.
However, the severely reduced eyesight does not limit him. “If you don’t know any other way, you don’t know what it’s like to have 100 percent vision in both eyes,” said Lita Baehre. “I can’t see three-dimensionally well. But I don’t let that limit me.”