Lake Catholic alum clears 2 heights in pole vault, then bows out

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Matt Ludwig won’t come home from the Tokyo Olympics with a medal around his neck.

But the Lake Catholic alum will come home with memories and motivation for the future.

After clearing his opening two heights in the men’s pole vault at the 2021 Olympics on July 30, Ludwig missed on all three of his attempts at 5.65 meters (18 1/2 feet) and bowed out of the competition.

Ludwig easily cleared his first attempts at 5.30 meters (17.38 feet) and 5.50 meters (18 feet), but then ran into difficulty at his third height.

After knocking the bar off on his ascension on his first try at 5.65 meters, Ludwig never made it to the bar on his second attempt. He got half-way up when he returned to the ground and reached for his right foot. But he showed no injury as he walked back to the seating area.

In his third and final attempt, Ludwig looked as if he was going to clear the bar, only to have his left thigh brush the bar and knock it off the standard, thus ending his Olympic competition.

It was a whirlwind week for the former three-sport athlete at Lake Catholic.

After spending the early portion of the week moving out of his Akron apartment

and into another, he got a phone call at 10:45 p.m. on Wednesday, July 28, telling him that he would be traveling to Tokyo to take the place of Sam Kendricks, who had tested positive for COVID-19.

Ludwig’s flight to Japan left at 7:45 p.m. on Thursday, July 29.

Thirteen hours after his flight left from Ohio, the 2015 graduate of Lake Catholic and 2019 graduate of the University of Akron was pole-vaulting in the Olympics in an event that started at 8:40 p.m. EST,

which was shortly after 10 a.m. Tokyo time.

Ludwig got his opportunity to compete be placing fourth at the Olympic Trials in June, making him the United States’ alternate in the pole vault. When Kendricks was ruled out because of COVID, Ludwig (who cleared 5.80 meters in the Olympic Trials) made the quick trip to Toyko.

After missing his third and final jump, Ludwig embraced USA teammate Christopher Nilsen and departed.