Record entries for Cologne Conference | 05.03.2012

Former European indoor high jump champion Ariane Friedrich of Germany will be one of the keynote speakers at the 5th European Pole Vault Conference in Cologne.

Organisers of the 5th European Pole Vault Conference, the first conference in this year’s European Athletics Coaching Summit Series, have announced that more than 250 participants from 21 countries have signed up for the event, which will be staged at the German Sport University in Cologne from 16 to 18 March.

It is already the biggest entry in the history of the conference - and registrations will still be open for two more weeks.

The conference includes a parallel session on the high jump and in keeping with this dual structure there will be two keynote speakers: Günther Lohre, many time German national pole vault champion who is currently a vice president of the German athletics federation, and the 2009 European Indoor Champion in the high jump, Arianne Friedrich, also from Germany.

Presentations will be made by top international guest speakers, who will address the two events from both the scientific and practical coaching points of view.

There will also be practical workshops featuring athletes from the national and region squads as well as opportunities for participants to communicate directly with the guest speakers.

The speaker line-up includes French pole vault coach Damien Inocencio, Hanne Haugland, the former Norwegian high jump champion who is now working as an athletics coach, and world silver medallist vaulter Martina Strutz and her coach Thomas Schultz, who will speak about their unique approach to strength training and periodisation.

The invited scientists are Prof Gert-Peter Brüggemann, a biomechanics expert who has led a number of research projects at world championships and Olympic Games, and molecular biologist Prof Wilhelm Bloch.

For further information and late registration please check www.dshs-koeln.de/polevault2012