andrej wrote:That's a pretty harsh statement. They have two six meter vaulters and they have a lot of other excellent vaulters. Considering their population, they really have a lot.
I see two 6m vaulters that never reached their potential. I think Ecker could have jumped the WR, especially after seeing how effortless his 6m vault was even with being over 1' under. Tim could have probably jumped 6.10 or higher if he had an efficient pole carry that allowed him to transition his speed to a better takeoff. Stolle should have jumped 6m also but sat in a basket under his grip a lot of the time. Otto still has a chance but it'll be because he's big and strong not because he's a great technician.
They have done fabulous though for their population but they could have done a lot more. Imagine if they all cleaned up their relatively minor technical problems instead of seemingly applying the American "overcome errors with athleticism" model. We'd be looking at a Germany with possibly 2-3 of the top 5 vaulters of all time by mark.