Great sadness for Tim Lobinger. The former pole vaulter lost a battle with cancer and died at the age of 50. “The former pole vault legend fell asleep peacefully in a small circle, he didn’t lose the fight, he won it in his own way,” quoted the “Rheinische Post” and the broadcaster RTL from a message from the family.
In 2017, Lobinger was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia. Lobinger fought cancer and was successfully treated with stem cell therapy. He processed his illness and how to deal with it in his book “Losing is not an option”. But the cancer returned in 2022. Lobinger made this public in an interview with the “Bunte”.
“There will be no more healing for me. My cancer is too aggressive,” said Lobinger to “Bild” last October. At the end of the 1990s, Lobinger was one of the best-known faces in German athletics. He achieved his greatest success indoors when he became European pole vault champion in 1998 and world champion in 2003. In 1999 he was the first German to break the magical six-metre mark.
In the summer of 2012, Lobinger started as an athletic trainer at the then second division club RB Leipzig, where he worked until 2016. Lobinger was an ambassador for the German José Carreras Leukemia Foundation.
Lobinger leaves behind three children and one grandchild.
