BjÃ¶rn Otto

Björn Otto at the German Indoor Championships 2007 in Leipzig

Björn Otto (born 16 October 1977 in Frechen ) is a German pole vaulter. He starts for the ASV Köln and is trained by Michael Kühnke. Otto is 1,91 m tall and weighs 90 kg. His biggest successes were the silver medals at the 2012 Olympic Games and the European Championships in 2012. Otto studied at the University of Cologne Biology and filed in December 2012, his thesis.

Achievements

Since the second place at the German Indoor Championships 2000 Björn Otto is represented in the top of the German pole vaulter. He reached more front ranks at German Championships. His best result was the victory at the German indoor championships in 2007 in Leipzig. The first international success was the victory at the European Indoor Cup 2004 as well as at the Universiade 2005 İzmir (Turkey).

The hitherto biggest success Otto at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka ( Japan). There, he finished with 5.81 m skipped fifth. He even had the chance to become world champion with a successful third try 5.91 m, since all the other athletes were already previously failed at that altitude. In 2012 he took two silver medals at the World Championships in the hall in Istanbul and at the European Championships in Helsinki, where the new personal best of 5.92 m. At the Olympic Games in London, he won the silver medal with skipped in the first experiment 5.91 m. His rival Renaud Lavillenie failed thereafter, although at this level, jumped in his last remaining attempt but 5.97 m.

In September 2012, Otto jumped pole vault meeting in Aachen with 6.01 m German outdoor record. He surpassed by Tim Lobinger scored 1997 and 1999 again reached record by one centimeter.

On 1 January 2013 changed Björn Otto TSV Bayer Dormagen to ASV Köln.

At the World Championships 2013 in Moscow he won the bronze medal.