Ariane Friedrich and Meike Kröger do lap a of honour in front of their home crowd in Berlin (© Getty Images)
A fascinating and unexpected duel in the women’s High Jump produced the highlight of the final day of the German Indoor Championships in Karlsruhe on Sunday (28 Feb).
It was Berlin’s Meike Kröger who produced a stunning two metre clearance, which was a personal best by four centimetres. Taking the lead at that stage she forced a maximum effort from defending champion Ariane Friedrich at 2.02m. The reigning European indoor champion cleared that height and thus succeeded. At the World Indoor Championships in Doha in less than two weeks time there could now well be two German medal challengers in the women’s High Jump.
Kröger, who had only recently improved to 1.96m, had opened her competition with 1.80m. She cleared that at her first attempt and also 1.84m, but then she made one mistake at 1.87m. After clearing that height at her second attempt the 23-year-old then made no mistake at 1.90m, 1.92m and 1.94m.
By that time Friedrich had only jumped once, when she cleared 1.90m. The defending champion then jumped 1.96m at her first attempt, a height Kröger surprisingly passed. Friedrich then sat out at 1.98m, but probably did not expect that she would be put under pressure. After two very promising attempts Kröger cleared 1.98m with her final jump and then went straight on to two metres for the first time in her career and sailed clear on her first attempt!
Kröger became the seventh German woman to jump two metres indoors. And this achievement in front of a sell-out crowd of 5,000 seemed to have an effect on Friedrich, who must have wondered what was going on. She messed up her first attempt at 2.00m and pass her remaining two attempts, giving Kröger the lead over the big favourite.
But as so often in the past two years Friedrich showed fighting spirit and put together a great jump when she cleared 2.02m with her first try. Finally Kröger, who had already jumped eleven times before the bar was risen to 2.02m, was beaten. She clearly missed 2.02m three times, but had produced the best competition of her life.
“I thought I could jump a personal best after doing well in training, but I would never have expected to clear two metres today,” said Kröger.
“My respect for her – Meike did extraordinary well. She put me under quite some pressure,” said Friedrich. “In Doha we will form a very strong duo and will make it difficult for the others.”
Moguenara's consistency continues in Long Jump
Another jumper who could do unexpectedly well at the World Indoor Championships is Sosthene Moguenara. The 20-year-old long jumper improved once again on Sunday, when she jumped 6.75m to defend her title. The last time a German woman jumped further indoors was 10 years ago, the year a certain Heike Drechsler won the Olympic title!
“My training had gone well so I knew I would be able to improve,” said Moguenara, who finished well ahead of Bianca Kappler (6.51m) and will now have a chance for a very good result in Doha since she appears to jump quite consistently.
Two over 4.60m in Pole Vault
And another women’s jumping event produced good results on Sunday. In the Pole Vault Carolin Hingst managed to win the title with just two clearances. First she jumped 4.50m and then she flew over 4.60m. Kristina Gadschiew also cleared 4.60m with her first attempt, but an earlier miss at her opening height of 4.25m left her in second place.
“Everything fit together for me today. And my attempts at 4.70m showed that there is still potential for me to improve,” Hingst said.
Silke Spiegelburg was forced to miss defending her title because of the flu. She may still be selected for Doha since she has a season’s best of 4.61m and is Germany’s most successful women’s pole vaulter at big events for years now.
While Carolin Nytra stormed to a championships’ record 7.89 in the 60m Hurdles, the men’s events could not quite match the drama and class of the women’s competitions on Sunday. Here Alexander John, who took the 60m Hurdles with 7.68, and Bastian Swillims, who returned from a number of injuries and won the 400m in 46.67, produced the best results.
Mohr and Straub take 1-2 in men's Pole Vault, Bartels heaves 21.02m
On Saturday Malte Mohr had taken the Pole Vault with 5.70m from Alexander Straub, who also cleared that height. But in contrast to Mohr, who jumped this at his first attempt, Straub needed three. There was however no improvement for Mohr this time, who had jumped 5.83m two weeks earlier in Leipzig. Germany’s World junior champion Raphael Holzdeppe was third with 5.65m, missing out on Doha qualification.
While Christian Reif took the Long Jump with a jump of 8.10m, beating the Doha qualifying standard, the two Shot Put events had good results. Ralf Bartels won with a season’s best of 21.02m from youngster David Storl (20.77m). Nadine Kleinert also managed a season’s best of 19.19m. Here Petra Lammert took second and secured qualification with 18.82 m.
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
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