diff --git a/lifecycle-operator/controllers/lifecycle/keptnappversion/controller.go b/lifecycle-operator/controllers/lifecycle/keptnappversion/controller.go
index 14bca6d3cb..2e4801bb20 100644
--- a/lifecycle-operator/controllers/lifecycle/keptnappversion/controller.go
+++ b/lifecycle-operator/controllers/lifecycle/keptnappversion/controller.go
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ func (r *KeptnAppVersionReconciler) getLinkedSpans(appVersion *klcv1beta1.KeptnA
 		linkedCtx = otel.GetTextMapPropagator().Extract(linkedCtx, traceContextCarrier)
 
 		link := trace.LinkFromContext(linkedCtx, attribute.KeyValue{
-			Key:   "ot-span-reference-type",
+			Key:   "opentracing.ref_type",
 			Value: attribute.StringValue("follows-from"),
 		})
 		result[i] = link
diff --git a/lifecycle-operator/controllers/lifecycle/keptnappversion/controller_test.go b/lifecycle-operator/controllers/lifecycle/keptnappversion/controller_test.go
index 43df5866a2..7e08a31649 100644
--- a/lifecycle-operator/controllers/lifecycle/keptnappversion/controller_test.go
+++ b/lifecycle-operator/controllers/lifecycle/keptnappversion/controller_test.go
@@ -374,7 +374,7 @@ func TestKeptnAppVersionReconciler_getLinkedSpans(t *testing.T) {
 					}),
 					Attributes: []attribute.KeyValue{
 						{
-							Key:   "ot-span-reference-type",
+							Key:   "opentracing.ref_type",
 							Value: attribute.StringValue("follows-from"),
 						},
 					},