The pole vaulter Bo Kanda Lita Baehre is one of the few hopefuls in the DLV team at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene. At the German championships, the man from Leverkusen jumped 5.90 m. In top form, he can aim for a World Championships medal.
Bo Kanda Lita Baehre would probably be only too happy to delete the past year from his sporting vita: Ironically, he wasn’t in top form when he took part in the Olympics for the first time – 5.70 m was only enough for eleventh place in the final in Tokyo. With the same height he had “scratched” precious metal in 2019 at the World Cup in Doha in fourth place.
With 5.90 m to the German championship title
But you can actually rely on the jumper from Bayer 04 Leverkusen: The four-time German champions have increased their best performance almost continuously year after year. In 2014, at the age of 15, he entered the statistics for the first time with 4.45 m, two years later he jumped well over the five meter mark with 5.30 m. As an 18-year-old he cracked the 5.60 m, two years ago Lita Baehre flew over 5.81 m for the first time. Only four German athletes have so far overcome this height.
So far no medal at international level
With this sentence, the 23-year-old catapulted himself to fifth place in the world best list for the year – and can therefore squint at a medal in Eugene. “You have to jump these heights if you want to be involved worldwide,” says Lita Baehre. You can’t go to a World Cup “to be in the last third”.
Provided the nerves play along, the biggest success of his career so far is possible in the event of successful qualification (Saturday, 2.05 a.m. CEST/live on the first and at sportschau.de) on the final day of the World Cup – a jump on the podium. European Championship gold at the U23 European Championships 2019 is currently the best result in his CV.
Lita Baehre “loves the show”
Lita Baehre not only stands out because of her good performance. Tattoos, trendy dreadlocks and mirrored sunglasses: the man from Leverkusen knows how to stage himself, including with pictures of his (abdominal) muscles on Instagram.
He “loves” the show, says the pole vaulter about himself, but leaves no doubt that it’s about the sport for him. He would “do everything to represent Germany well”, was his announcement before the World Cup.
“Medals are the most important thing”
In the final on Monday (2.25 a.m. CEST, live on Erste) the only gold medal is Swedish high-flyer and world record holder Armand Duplantis, but Lita Baehre says: “Anything can happen”. He is now “definitely closer to getting involved” than at the 2019 World Cup. At major championships “the medals are the most important thing, people don’t remember anything else,” says the DLV jumper.
Strong performance and that certain extra
It’s not just the German track and field scene that’s longing for someone like Lita Baehre. The performance is right for him, he wants more – and brings that certain extra with him. “He’s authentic and doesn’t pretend, that brings new flair to our sport,” says chief national coach Annett Stein about the model athlete.
Most recently, Lita Baehre landed unluckily in a jump, for a short time it was not clear whether he could start in Eugene – but his trainer Christine Adams gave the all-clear. “His back has recovered very well thanks to good medical care, Bo is training here 100 percent according to plan and is fully resilient again,” she said.