After being forced to the sidelines with no poles in Monaco on Friday, August 14, 2020, world pole vault champion Sam Kendricks of the United States finally kicked off his European summer circuit with a victory at the TrueAthletes Classics meeting in Leverkusen, Germany, on Sunday, August 16.
Kendricks topped 5.81m on his second try to beat Bo Kanda Lita Baehre on countback, the German needing all three of his attempts before clearing the decisive height. Kendricks then bowed out with three tries at 5.91m.
It was the second career-best this month for the 21-year-old Baehre, who was fourth at the World Championships last year. He topped 5.72m in Braunschweig one week ago.
Raphael Holzdeppe, the 2013 world champions, was third with 5.76m.
In his first competition since his 91.49m world lead in Turku on Monday, Johannes Vetter threw 84.30 in the third round to collect his fourth win of the season in five starts.
Sprint hurdler Nadine Visser, another Turku winner, prevailed here as well, clocking 12.85.
Katharina Trost won the mile in 4:29.35, a world leader. Imani Lansiquot of Great Britain won the 100m in 11.16 and Gianmarco Tamberi took the high jump with 2.29m.
