Otto finally reaches the big stage

[rainbowgirl28]

http://osaka2007.iaaf.org/news/kind=2/newsid=40293.html

Otto finally reaches the big stage

Just in time for the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Osaka, Japan (25 Aug to 2 Sep), Björn Otto has finally managed to transform his great form from the indoor season to outdoors. The 29-year-old German pole vaulter had been known as a very strong competitor indoors. In the past winter season he was even the world’s number one indoor jumper with a personal best of 5.90m. But his past summers were by far not as successful as one would have expected after the relevant indoor seasons.
Also due to the very strong opposition in German pole vaulting Otto had never managed to qualify for a major international championship in the summer, although he did win a gold at the World Student Games two years ago. But now Otto, who is 1.91m tall and weighs 91 kilos, has for the first time qualified for a major global championship. He secured his ticket to Osaka with a second place showing at the German Championships behind Danny Ecker in Erfurt in July.
High pressure German qualifying
The pressure was tremendous in Erfurt since Tim Lobinger had already been qualified due to his European Cup win in Munich. That meant that only two tickets were left – and four jumpers were in contention for these since all of them had cleared the qualifying standard of 5.70m. Ecker and Otto finally went through while Richard Spiegelburg and Lars Börgeling were the ones who missed out in difficult weather conditions due to winds.
“I had worked a lot on getting used to jumping in windy conditions before,â€Â