Leni Wildgrube

Happy birthday to Germany’s pole vaulter Leni Wildgrube, a Youth Olympic champion and one of the most decorated age-group vaulters her country has produced.

In one extraordinary run, Leni took silver at the World U18 Championships in Nairobi at sixteen with a personal best of 4.15m, then won the European U18 Championships in Győr the following summer with 4.26m, and then won the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires that October. No U18 pole vaulter on earth cleared a higher bar than she did in 2018, and Germany named her its Youth Female Athlete of the Year for it. She added German U20 titles in 2019 and 2020, defending the second one at Heilbronn with 4.25m, and took her personal best to 4.45m at Zweibrücken before contesting the European U23 Championships in Tallinn.

The Buenos Aires gold is the one worth telling properly. The Youth Olympic vault was contested over two rounds, and the first came in the rain. She had never competed in wet conditions before. She cleared 3.95m in round one and 4.17m in round two, and what she said afterwards was not about the medal at all. It was that she was proud of handling weather she had no experience of.

She came to the event sideways. Leni was a gymnast first, and a hurdler after that, with a sub-14 100m hurdles and an 11.68 flat 100m to her name, which is real sprint speed for a vaulter. Her coaches have credited the gymnastics for the technique. She is the eldest of six, and her brother Wigurd vaults too, so the family has spent a great many weekends at the same runway.

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Leni! Gesundheit, Glück und alles erdenklich Gute im neuen Lebensjahr. Hoch soll sie leben! 🎂🎁🎉🫶🫶🇩🇪