German athletics is mourning the loss of one of its great stars: the former pole vault world champion Tim Lobinger is dead. Towards the end of the 1990s, the 50-year-old developed into one of the best pole vaulters in the country. He was the first German to jump the six- meter mark.
The sports world is sad: Tim Lobinger has lost the hardest fight of his life. The former indoor world champion in pole vaulting died this Thursday, he was only 50 years old. He had already announced in the autumn of last year that he was going to die. “There will be no more healing for me. My cancer is too aggressive,” he told the “Bild” newspaper at the time.
In a statement from the family to RTL / ntv it says: “The former pole vault legend fell asleep peacefully in a small circle, he did not lose the fight, but won in his own way.” In the past few months, he has repeatedly reported via Instagram and given updates on his health. “Typical winter look. And yet I’m almost always cold,” he wrote just over a week ago. With some of the set hashtags, he made it clear that he was obviously in a positive mood at the time. That’s not what it said there, among other things
Lobinger was diagnosed with blood cancer in March 2017. After chemotherapy, stem cell donations, interim relapses and a brief liver failure in the summer of 2018, the ex-professional was considered healthy again. According to Lobinger, he had to undergo therapy again in 2020 and received additional radiation. “It started with joint problems. Suddenly I had visible dents all over my body. On my legs, shoulders, head,” he once explained.
Giving up was not an option for the 1998 European Indoor Champion and 2003 World Indoor Champion, who was the first German to jump the magical 6 meter mark outdoors. Lobinger was denied a medal at the Olympic Games and outdoor world championships. In 2011, the DLV honored the pole vaulter with the Rudolf Harbig Prize at the national title fights in Kassel. After his playing days, Lobinger worked as a personal trainer, looked after the German national player Joshua Kimmich, among others, and was an athletic trainer for the then second division club RB Leipzig.
“It’s worth fighting for every day that I live and can spend with my family,” he once said. His son Okkert started school last year, daughter Fee got married, he was able to see the birth of granddaughter Fia and the first professional goal of son Lex-Tyger, who plays for 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the 2nd Bundesliga. Lobinger looked for and “always found little ways to gain strength,” he once said. In February 2023, his family emphasizes that he “didn’t lose the fight, but won it in his own way.”
