Having lost most of the important contests in 2013 to France’s Renaud Lavillenie, the reigning Olympic and European champion, Raphael Holzdeppe, at 23, produced one of the surprise results of the year to win the pole vault gold medal in the World Championships in Moscow. Holzdeppe jumped 5.89 metres, the same as Lavillenie, but won on countback. He became the first German to win a pole vault gold medal. He also won the Diamond League meeting in Rome.
