TAKEOFF
AYDEN OWENS
#10 July 2022
The mission of TAKEOFF Magazine is to inspire amateur athletes to personal greatness. My name is Adele San Miguel, and I am the co-founder of Pole Vault Carolina, a training facility based in Durham, North Carolina. TAKEOFF is the next iteration of our club’s mission: to coach the athlete to their highest self. I’m thrilled to have you on our runway. ADELE SAN MIGUEL, PUBLISHER + EDITOR
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HELLO THERE!
July 2022
A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Welcome to a special micro issue of TAKEOFF magazine!
If you are a fan of track and field, summer is your favorite season. We get to coach our own athletes in the pole vault and decathlon, the World Championships are taking place, and because of that, there is must see tv every night! We see dreams manifested on the track and courage and composure displayed on the field. Young athletes are watching and learning. When Puerto Rican decathlete Ayden Owens Delerme won the NCAA title twice this year, and tied the outdoor meet record, we knew his story needed to be told. It feels personal as our family is half Puerto Rican. Ayden showed up to the Zoom interview with his Puerto Rican singlet, emanating orgullo, pride. TAKEOFF’s interview with Ayden begins on page 8. Seventy-five year old vaulter Matti Kilpelainen, a Finnish American, recently won the World Masters Athletic Championships for his age group, in Tampere, Finland no less! But Matti’s story is greater than his 9’2” jump that clinched the top spot. Ralph Hardy penned More Than Gold that starts on page 16. One of our Pole Vault Carolina alumnus has reached higher heights in the last year than previously thought possible. In early 2019, Lakelyn Bass broke her back in a devastating car accident. We did not know if she would ever vault again. This past season, she jumped 13’1”, a huge improvement over her high school personal record. Lakelyn Bass Dreams Big is written by her former teammate Maddie Davies, and can be found on page 6. We hope you are inspired by the athletes featured in this issue! All the Very Best, Adele
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Letter from The Editor 3 Lakelyn Bass Dreams Big
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Introducuing Ayden Owens Delerme - World Class Decathlete
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Matti Kilpelainen - More Than Gold 16 Thank you to the following companies for advertising with us in this issue: Kanstet Runways, FiberSport Vaulting Poles, RockBack Bags and Pole Vault Carolina!
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Cover photo provided by Ayden Owen Delerme
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CONTRIBUTORS
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Maddie Davies
Ralph Hardy
2X NCHSAA State Champion, Pole Vault Duke T&F Class of 2026
Playwright Masters Pole Vaulter
Lakelyn Bass Dreams Big
Matti Kilpelainen, More Than Gold
Jose R. San MIguel Head Coach of Pole Vault Carolina Introducing Ayden Owens Delerme World Class Decathlete
Sydney Horn Lakelyn Bass Higher at High Point Dreams Big :
By Maddie Davies
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Just weeks before Lakelyn Bass was expected to dominate the 2019 North Carolina Indoor State Championships, she was tragically injured in a car accident and unable to compete. She spent the remainder of her senior season valiantly fighting to recover from two vertebrae fractures. Lakelyn hoped to return to the track late that year, but a series of additional injuries and mental blocks hindered her progress. Then COVID stripped another season from Lakelyn and took her passion for the sport along with it.
riers was the more difficult battle. Lakelyn remained optimistic and felt the support of people rallying behind her. Her parents were always in the stands cheering her on. Lakelyn’s training partner, Gabi Goecke, pushed her to be her best in every aspect of her life, becoming a mentor she could look up to. Lastly, her new coach, Bobby Hostler, never failed to “uplift [her] at [her] lowest moments.” It slowly became clear that Lakelyn was not fighting alone. As junior year approached, she was finally ready to pole vault.
convinced her to continue chasing this goal. She had a serious conversation with Coach Hostler about going professional in the future. He describes how “Lakelyn has the quality that every coach wants, an athlete that listens” and who dedicates time to “extra film study, extra recovery time, [and] extra drills”. “She has a competitive drive that you rarely see from other athletes.” With three more years of NCAA eligibility, Lakelyn will thrive working with Coach Hostler. He has already elevated her confidence and potential.
Throughout high school, Lakelyn excelled in multiple running and field events, but by junior year, she realized she was meant to pole vault. She hit marks that ranked her top ten in the state, and she committed to Campbell University. Unfortunately, her accident halted her collegiate pole vault training and limited her to the heptathlon at first. She made up for lost training time her sophomore year but a shoulder injury sidelined her yet again. Lakelyn desperately missed the exuberance she felt from clearing bars as a vaulter, but she kept pushing through, hoping her luck would turn.
Three years after missing her state championships, Lakelyn returned to the track as a pole vaulter and jumped four inches short of her lifetime personal best. It was a breakthrough moment that reminded Lakelyn why she fell in love with the sport. She claimed her school record with a 13’1 mark from the season, making for a foot and a half all-time personal best improvement. Lakelyn came away hungry for more.
This year’s success has given Lakelyn the confidence to pursue her dream of representing the United States on the global stage. After recovering from what most couldn’t have, she continues to push herself with hopes of competing against world-class competitors at the World Championships and Olympic Games.
Though Lakelyn recovered physically, overcoming barPhoto various credit: Polemental Vault Carolina
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In high school, Lakelyn dreamed of competing professionally, but she felt immensely defeated by her heptathlon career and simply wanted to survive college athletics. Her success at that small meet in February revived her passion and
Through the unconditional support of her parents, the camaraderie of the pole vault community, and a constant trust in God, Lakelyn Bass is back prepared to set new records and to vault to her potential.
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Photo credit: Pole Vault Carolina Photo provided by Megan Zimlich
Photo provided by Lakelyn Bass
Introducing Sydney Horn Higher at High Point Ayden Owens By Jose R. San Miguel AUTHOR’S NOTE: Ayden Owens Delmere is the 2022 NCAA Decathlon Champion, and NCAA Decathlon record holder. He attends the University of Arkansas, where he is pursuing a Master’s in Business Administration and Entrepreneurship. Ayden is representing my home country of Puerto Rico at the IAAF World Championships being held in Eugene, Oregon. In Puerto Rico we call track and field pisticampo. Having someone represent the island at the highest level is a source of tremendous pride for every puertorriqueno. Ayden is a medal contender as a 22-year- old in an event where athletes reach their peak in their late twenties.
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TAKEOFF: Ayden, how did you get started in the decathlon?
sider representing Puerto Rico, and he helped facilitate that.
Ayden: I’ve been doing the multi events since I was 12 years old. I started running track in Pittsburgh at a city track club called Nadia. My coach’s name was Oronde Sharif. He noticed that I was versatile, had a short attention span, and participating in only one event bored me.
TAKEOFF: You started running track in Pennsylvania. Did you ever live in Puerto Rico?
After my second year in the club, he said I was old enough to do the pentathlon. I ended up excelling. I think that first year that I did it, I was second in the nation in the pentathlon. I kept improving and re-committing myself to the multi event discipline and look where we are today.
Ayden showed up to our Zoom interview in a Puerto Rico singlet and with happiness emanating through the screen. Grounded in his faith and a strong family upbringing, Ayden accepts the challenge ahead, and the responsibility associated with representing the island. Along with millions of Puerto Ricans and track fans around the world, I will be rooting for him.
TAKEOFF: Didn’t you train with Jose Rivera as well?
We hope that every athlete and coach reading this article will be inspired to pursue their own personal Photo credit: Pole Vault Carolina bests in every endeavor.
At the time, I was getting really good at track and I wanted to compete on an international level. And he was like, hey, I think that you should con-
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Ayden: I did. Coach Jose was another coach in the area. I worked first with Orande, and then as I got to high school, I worked more with Coach Jose. He helped facilitate the Puerto Rico route that I ended up taking because at the time I wasn’t representing the U.S. or Puerto Rico.
Ayden: No, I never lived in Puerto Rico. I have family on the island, mostly in San Juan, Cupey, and Carolina. My grandparents live there, but my mom moved to the U.S. like a lot of Puerto Ricans did. Every summer, I had to go to Puerto Rico to visit family, connect with our roots, and attend family reunions. TAKEOFF: Looking back, who has been the most influential person in your athletic development? Ayden: It took a lot to get me to where I am today. Every single person who’s influenced me has had an impact so it’s hard to pinpoint one specific person. I learned so much from each coach, each mentor who’s helped create me as an athlete and a person. Coach Sharif is still to this day my closest mentor. He’s probably been the most influential person developing me into an athlete. Beyond that I would say Coach Jose and now it’s been my coach here at Arkansas, Travis Geopfert.
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Photo provided by Ayden Owens Delerme
TAKEOFF: That was a great answer because you don’t get to where you are without some excellent coaching. You went from high school to the University of Southern California to Michigan to Arkansas. Ayden: Yeah, I’ve been all over. TAKEOFF: Tell me about that process. Ayden: Coming out of high school, I could go anywhere I wanted. I had scholarships from many schools in the U.S. The coaches of big Division I schools came to my house. Being from Pittsburgh where it’s cold, dreary, and wet, I wanted to go far from home and experience something that was different. I always dreamed of going to USC because it’s a big track school. I ended up choosing it since it was academically strong and it checked off the boxes for the athletic side. I had a great freshman year, and then my coach left and I decided to transfer and follow him.
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When I came out of high school, I intended to go to USC for all four years and graduate and maybe even live there. But, as you experience what the business of track and field is, you have to find what works for you. So, I transferred from Michigan where I loved the coaching staff, and had a great experience, but my coach left again after my second year. I was seeking something new and wanted to go down to the SEC, specifically to the University of Arkansas, which has the best track program in the U.S. Arkansas is a school that commits to track and field, spends their time on track, and they had a coach who was recruiting me, Travis Geopfert, who I trusted and believed in. I graduated from Michigan, came here, and decided to do my MBA and keep pursu-
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ing track and field. TAKEOFF: What changed in your training to get you from a good decathlete to a world class athlete? Ayden: I wouldn’t say much has changed in my training because I’ve been through three programs and different coaches. I think the success comes from my natural progression. I’m getting more mature in the event. They say you don’t peak in the decathlon until your late twenties. I just turned twenty-two, so I feel like I am going to keep getting better. But what really helped me take it to the next level was coming here to Arkansas, training with Coach Geopfert and being more intentional about everything. I’m really becoming a student of the sport. The training is more deliberate and more difficult. I stay on top of my rehab. A lot of the reasons why decathletes can’t perform at the highest level is because they get injured. Being on top of my rehab this year, more than I ever have, has prevented injuries and helped me get to the World Championships. TAKEOFF: We know you’re prepared physically. You have rehab and great coaches. Emotionally, how do you prepare to compete? Ayden: It’s pretty simple, really. It’s not ten events to me. I say it’s 11 events and the 11th event is being emotionally sound, and controlling all the ups and downs that come from what you have to face. You can’t have ten successful events without managing that mental and emotional side. Knowing that I can’t control the result, I can only control my effort and my attitude, I try to give my best effort and always wear a smile on my face. Regardless of the
circumstances, know that the result will come. Whatever that is, you can’t control it. You have to be happy with what you get. TAKEOFF: When I did the decathlon, we used to say you have 5 minutes to celebrate or complain about your performance in the previous event and you move on. How do you stay focused one personal best after the next? Ayden: I just take it like I’m not new to it, you know? I get excited about a PR, but I’m not just running the 100 meters that day. If I were, I’d be much more excited. I’m doing the decathlon. I’m trying to PR in each individual event, but overall, I’m trying to win the decathlon. That’s the focus. I can’t afford myself any time to celebrate or be down for an extended period of time. TAKEOFF: What has been a challenge that you had to overcome and how did you deal with it? Ayden: The biggest challenge has been the injuries that I faced when I was at USC and when I was at Michigan. They weren’t even that severe and didn’t require surgery, but when you put so much of your identity into a sport, which I think is a mistake, and then get injured and can’t do that thing you define yourself by, you are lost. That’s something I overcame. I can’t put my identity in the sport. I’m not defined by how well I do in the decathlon. I learned to lean on my faith and my family and things that are always stable. My body is something that may fail me at any given day. That helped me overcome the adversity when I got injured or lost passion for the sport. An injury will steal away a lot of your
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Photo provided by Ayden Owen
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happiness. I conquered it by realizing I’m not defined by it.
TAKEOFF: What part of pole vaulting do you struggle with?
TAKEOFF: Then it doesn’t beat you up as a person. How did you work to get your passion back?
Ayden: I’m always good on the runway. The thing that I struggled with in my earlier days was fear of getting upside down. Now I work on ensuring that I’m hitting my plant right, ensuring that my left arm is not at my forehead, but actually using it to create that pocket to swing. Now it’s just continuing to get the takeoff more consistent so the swing can come and I can get more inverted and not flag off the pole. It’s just technical things.
Ayden: Sometimes there is a stigma around sports psychology therapy, but I just wanted to improve my holistic self, not just my physical body but my emotional and my mental selves. I got it back by being around positive energy at all times. I read a lot of books on mindset, on successful people who’ve overcome trials and found a way to succeed. I was willing to learn something new. TAKEOFF: What books have helped you? Ayden: One of them is called Mindset. It talked about the difference between a growth mindset and a static mindset. Your perception of some event can affect how much you impact the outcome. Look at an adversity as something that will benefit you long term. You’ve got to be uncomfortable in order to gain comfort on the other side. With that approach, you’ll just be overall a happier and more successful person. It’s looking at it from the positive end of things. TAKEOFF: Let’s talk about pole vaulting.
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Ayden: (Laughs) Talk about an event that is mentally taxing, that is the most technical event for sure. It’s taken a longer time for me to develop as a pole vaulter than some of my other events. But I think it’s definitely the most exhilarating event and one where I leave the most points on the table and where I’ll continue to improve.
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TAKEOFF: How often do you pole vault? Ayden: We jump once a week. TAKEOFF: Our club, Pole Vault Carolina, is hosting a decathlon for boys and girls - high schoolers, middle schoolers, and masters. What advice would you give young athletes who are competing in the decathlon for the first time? Ayden: I think that there’s a lot of pressure to specialize at an early age, especially here in the states. Some coaches say you’re just playing football, no track. Or, you’re just doing track, and then within the sport there’s pressure to specialize in particular events. I feel like in order to know what you’re going to excel in, you have to try as many things as possible. The decathlon is the king of track and field, it is track and field, really. If you want to enjoy the sport to its fullest, there’s no better way than to participate in the ten-event discipline. Maybe you could become the greatest athlete in your area or your school. It’s a cool title being a decathlete, wheth-
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er you’re male or female. Anyone who wants to can participate in this event - it’s open to everyone. TAKEOFF: Looking back, what have you sacrificed to chase your decathlon dream? Ayden: This is a hard question to answer, because a lot of people look at sports and see that they’re making sacrifices to get to where they are. And maybe that’s true. But I think in my particular case, the only thing I’ve sacrificed is comfort and laziness. I would rather not live any other lifestyle than the one I live right now. At 22, I’m able to pursue my dream. I’m able to study for my master’s degree and train amongst the best athletes in the world. I don’t feel like I’m making sacrifices to be in my situation. Yes, it is difficult, but I have free time. This is the lifestyle that I chose, this and all the things that come with it. I don’t see it as an exchange or a trade-off of other potential routes that I could have taken. TAKEOFF: That is an awesome outlook on life. This one is personal and you don’t have to get into details: how do you support yourself financially? Ayden: Arkansas takes care of their athletes through and through. They fly me to the meets I attend. I’m able to get the medical care that I need from Arkansas and also from Puerto Rico. Now that I’m competing internationally, there’s support from the Olympic Committee and things that ensure their athletes are able to compete at the highest level. I’m pretty blessed to be in this position to have people helping me succeed to the best of my ability. TAKEOFF: What other interests do
Photo provided by Ayden Owen
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you have outside of track and field? Ayden: I’m studying for my Master’s in Business Administration and Entrepreneurship. I recently formed my first business called We Play Track, LLC. It enabled me to start hosting camps and clinics. I want to reach back into the community. The last two years with the help of Coach Jose Rivera, I’ve had camps in Puerto Rico. I also had one here in Fayetteville. I’d like to impart my wisdom and experience on some of the young up and comers who could use a mentor. So, one is reaching back into the community and connecting with the people. And then number two, I’d like to stay involved in sports in a business capacity after I’m done with track and field. I don’t really do much other than study, run track, educate myself reading books, and spend time with friends and family. TAKEOFF: What is something that most people do not know about you, that is not on your social media? Ayden: I don’t really share my story that much on my social media. A lot of people probably don’t know it, but I’m one of eight children. I feel like so much of my growth, so much of what I know and who I am has been formed by my family. TAKEOFF: Where are you in the birth order?
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Ayden: I’m the sixth, yeah, that’s a pretty cool fact. TAKEOFF: How does it feel to represent Puerto Rico at the World Championships and hopefully the 2024 Olympics? Ayden: I was hoping you’d ask that question. First, I just feel proud and honored to be able to showcase our people at the highest level. Not a lot of kids get the opportunity to wear their country’s flag, let alone on a stage that’s the biggest in the world. I’m in a unique position and I don’t take it lightly. With success comes responsibility, and it’s a big responsibility for me to make sure that I’m representing my people to the best of my ability. Ever since I was young, my grandparents and my mom told me that representing Puerto Rico was in my future. I didn’t understand the significance at the time. I felt pressured from people around me to represent the U.S. Once I decided against that, I felt people’s resentment. They said, oh, you’re not Puerto Rican, you didn’t even grow up there. If you grow up in the states in a Puerto Rican family, you have something deep-rooted within you. You are fulfilled by your culture, even if you did not grow up immersed in it on the
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island. I always felt it and I wanted to embrace it and claim it for myself and for all of us. That’s a long answer, but I take a lot of pride in representing Puerto Rico. TAKEOFF: I could see that in your face as you as you spoke. Will your family have the chance to go or will they watch on TV? Ayden: My parents will be there. It’ll be really cool having them. I’ve been super fortunate that they’ve been coming to a lot of the meets this year. I love having them there supporting me, like when I was a little kid. So having the fam there, it’s going to be pretty cool to be able to do it for them for the first time on this big stage. TAKEOFF: We sincerely appreciate your honesty and your time. I have followed you for years and you seem a lot more mature than a 22 year-old. You know who are and already appreciate the value of family. You are using your talents and enriching us all by doing so. We wish you the best in the World Championships and beyond. Can I take a screenshot of you so people don’t say that I made this up? Ayden: Sure! TAKEOFF: There you go. We are rooting for you!
Matti Kilpelainen: More Than Gold By Ralph Hardy Matti Kilpelainen is a unicorn. Don’t believe me? Draw a circle and label it 75-year-old men. Overlay a circle on that labeled pole vaulters. Add another circle to the Venn diagram and label it world champions. Just for kicks add a fourth circle: Finnish Americans who won their world championships in freaking Finland. How many people out of 8 billion in the world fit in that intersection? One. Matti Kilpelainen.
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A history lesson. In August 1939 Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact, which divided Poland and placed Finland under the “sphere of Soviet influence.” Three months later the Soviet Union invaded Finland with the goal of annexing it, and thus began the “Winter War.” The intrepid Finns fought on ski and sleds and treated the Soviet soldiers like biathlon targets, holding off the vaunted Soviet army for months before Moscow and the Finnish government signed a peace treaty which ceded almost 10% of Finland to their foe but established a temporary truce. Hitler, after seeing Finland’s success against the Soviets, tore up their non-aggression pact and invaded the Soviet Union and occupied Finland until the Finns kicked them out in 1944. Ten years later, in 1954, a young Finnish boy named Matti, whose father and uncle fought the Russians, would emigrate with his family to Michigan. Sixty-eight years later, Matti would re-
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turn to Finland and win the world pole vaulting championship, clearing 2.80 m (9’2) in the over 75 age group against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. History does repeat itself. Matti’s family first moved to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, but there was little work to be found, so they moved to Detroit, where Matti’s engineer-trained father found work as a carpenter. His family periodically returned to Finland and it was there, at a kind of summer camp, that Matti first pole vaulted, using a metal pole and landing in sand. Matti joined the high school track team, but he was more than just a vaulter. He hurdled, high jumped and threw the shot too. But it was his pole vaulting prowess and an indoor championship at 13’6 that caught the eye of legendary University of Michigan track coach Dan Canham. Perhaps influenced by the success of Eele Lundstrom, the Finnish bronze medalist pole vaulter in the Rome Olympics, Canham gave Matti a partial scholarship, and the blond, square-jawed immigrant was able to fulfill his dream to attend university. At Michigan his college best was 15.6, good enough to place in the Big Ten championships and only a foot under the world record at the time. But after graduating with a degree in physical education, Matti wasn’t through with pole vaulting; nor was it
through with him. He followed a track and field teammate to Los Angeles to barnstorm the pole vault circuit, and there he met a vivacious young Jewish woman named Jutka Kovac, an emigre from Hungary, whose mother and grandmother were saved from the German death camps by Raoul Wallenberg. Wallenberg, a Swedish architect and University of Michigan alum, saved between five and ten thousand Hungarian Jews from extermination by providing them fake documents or hiding them in buildings with fake Swedish names. Wallenberg was later kidnapped by the Soviets and executed in 1947 and posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and named Righteous Among the Nations by the Israeli government. Jutka, alone, lost forty family members to Auschwitz. Two years after meeting Matti, Jutka moved to Michigan. They married, and Matti started teaching PE and coaching track, which he did for half a century, sending countless athletes to college on scholarships, even to the Ivies. “Most pole vaulters are very good students,” Matti says. Matti himself continued to vault and compete in decathlons, until injuries forced him to concentrate on the vault. Life marched on. Matti set world records at 55 (4.10m) and 60 (3.85m). They had a daughter and had countless profes-
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Photo provided by Matti Kilpelainen
sional successes. As they approached their seventies, Matti and Jutka begin to plan their retirement. Then Jutka was diagnosed with hydrocephalus dementia and their plans unraveled. Matti became a caretaker, molding his day around his wife’s needs. He continued to train though, lifting twice a week, running sprints; he still did his pole runs and dynamic exercises and vaulted once a week. But with his wife’s illness and the global Covid shutdown, the chance to compete again was slipping away. Then he saw that the Masters world championships were being held in Finland. His friends in Helsinki said they’d host him and provide poles. His daughter and a former high school vaulter protégée said they’d look after Jutka. Reluctantly, he left for his home country.
About that 2.80 vault that won the world championship: after clearing it on his third attempt, Matti was ready to move up to 2.83 when the skies opened up and rain put an end to the event. Only later did Matti learn that the meet record for his age group is 2.83m. Four centimeters is an inch and a half. Still, he’s the world champion--maalimanmestari in Finnish. Somewhere along the way home he caught Covid and later Jutka caught it as well. They’ve recovered, and Matti is back caring for his wife. He trains, he keeps up with the pole vault world and his life-long friends, uncertain of what the future will bring. But one thing seems certain: it will involve flying with a pole over a bar as only a unicorn can.
Photo provided by Matti Kilpelainen
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From left to right. Leonardo Pedro Salvarrey Saravia- Uruguay, Matti Kilpelainen-USA, Reijo Murto- Finland, Mati Tinder-Estonia, Veikko Makela-Finland, Rudolf Vilcek-Slovak Republic T A K E O F F
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