by Larry Eder
September 7, 2008. Berlin, Germany: Derek Miles, US pole vault champion, and fourth place in Beijing Olympic Games, set a personal best of 19 feet, 2 1/4 inches or 5.85 meters at a special
pole vault meeting held at the most famous landmark in Berlin, Germany: the Brandenburg Gate.
Miles cleared his personal best by three centimeters in a event opening the ticket sales campaign for the 2009 World Outdoor Athletics Championships to be held in Berlin, Germany.
Miles vaulted in front of five thousand sports fans. In second was Leonid Andreev of Uzbekistan. In third, at the same height, but with more misses was Jeff Hartwig, the US Olympic team member and masters pole vaulter extraordinaire. Lars Borgeling of Germany, their best vaulter, finished fourth in 5.40 meters.
Besides the success of the pole vault competition, Berlin 2009 president Clemens Prokop told the media that more than 150,000 tickets have been sold for the next World Outdoor Athletic Championships.
This flash was assembled from information sent by agent Karen Locke and from releases.
