Danny Ecker after his German Championship win (© Bongarts / Getty)
Danny Ecker won the Pole Vault at the Wattenscheid meeting (12), which was the last test for the German team before the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Osaka, Japan (25 Aug to 2 Sep).
Ecker jumped 5.81m at his first attempt, after he had cleared his initial height of 5.71m only at his last. He then missed 5.91m.
“Since my hand injury this was the first weekend that I jumped in two meetings. I had no problems, which shows that I am fit. I am happy with my performance,” said Ecker, who had been second in Leverkusen on Friday with 5.70m.
In Wattenscheid he beat Tim Lobinger, Richard Spiegelburg and Przemyslaw Czerwinski (Poland), who all cleared 5.71m. It was not the day of Björn Otto, who had cleared 5.90m two days earlier in Leverkusen. This time he jumped 5.51m for fifth place.
Reyes Estevez (Spain) won the 1500m in 3:34.33, while Gregory Sedoc (Netherlands/13.43) beat Thomas Blaschek (13.47) in the 110 m hurdles. The Shot Put was won by Tomasz Majewski (Poland/20.54), while Peter Sack again missed his 20m target (19.94).
Two days after clocking a personal best of 12.70 seconds in the 100m Hurdles Dawn Harper (USA) further improved to 12.67. Again she beat Derval O’Rourke (Ireland/12.88), while Aurelia Trywianska (Poland/13.01) took third.
In the Shot Put, Nadine Kleinert (19.38) clearly beat Petra Lammert (18.81), but there was no change of recent balance of power in the Javelin Throw: Christina Obergföll (65.42) once again had the edge on Steffi Nerius (64.68).
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
