Silke Spiegelburg rises to the occasion at the 2009 German champs in Ulm (© Getty Images)
Robert Harting and Silke Spiegelburg produced the highlights on day two of the German Championships in Ulm on Sunday (5), which saw packed spectors tribunes and another crowd of 15,000.
The Berlin discus thrower took his event with 67.69m, while the European Indoor silver medallist in the women’s Pole Vault cleared 4.65m to clinch that title. Both clearly could do very well in the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Berlin, Germany (15 – 23 August).
Athough day two did not quite produce as many high-class results as day one, overall German athletics can look optimistically to the global championships.
Men’s events: Harting working on Berlin
Robert Harting had three valid attempts during his competition and all those three were beyond 66.50m. He threw 66.64m for a start, then improved by two centimetres in round four and achieved his winning mark of 67.69 m at his fifth attempt. He was far ahead of Markus Münch (62.09) and Martin Wierig (61.96).
“I had some back pain during my final three attempts,” said Harting, who had caused a major surprise when he took the silver medal at the World Championships in Osaka in 2007.
“I work on doing well at the global championships. But of course it will be difficult to win because you will have to throw beyond 68 metres for the gold.”
Ralf Bartels took the Shot Put with 20.62m, while Peter Sack was second with 20.01m. Germany’s World junior record holder* David Storl took third place with 19.84 m, which may be just enough to clinch the third slot for Berlin.
In the Hammer Throw, Sergei Litvinov took the title after the expected battle with Markus Esser. Litvinov threw 76.46m and was just eight centimetres ahead of his rival. Both of them will be nominated for Berlin.
Raul Spank had not had his best day on Sunday as he had to settle for third with 2.23m in the High Jump. Eike Onnen took the title with 2.26m from Tim Riedel, who also cleared that height.
“That was not a good comeptition from myself,” said Spank, who had been hampered by a stretched ligament. “I had some technical problems because of this.”
Youngster Robert Hering took the 200m improving to 20.41 secs. Alexander Kosenkow was second with 20.43 and Aleixo Platini Menga third in 20.65. Thomas Goller did well in the 400m Hurdles, beating the Berlin ‘A’ standard for the first time with a result of 49.20. He was well ahead of Christian Duma (50.59).
At the start of day two André Höhne had won the 10,000m Race Walk with a time of 40:38.49 mins.
Women’s events: Spiegelburg could spring a surprise in Berlin
It was Silke Spiegelburg who once again proved that she can be relied on when it matters. While her closest rival Anna Battke could not produce a height because she missed 4.40m three times Spiegelburg cleared 4.55 at her first attempt to secure the Pole Vault title.
Spiegelburg then jumped 4.65 at her third attempt and went on to attempt to break Annika Becker’s seven year-old German record of 4.77m, and she almost did it on her final attempt, but she had to settle for a winning height of 4.65m.
“It is a bit annoying because it was so close, but otherwise I am very happy,” said Spiegelburg, who belongs to those German athletes who could be in with an outside chance in Berlin in August.
Kristina Gadschiew took second place with 4.50m while Lisa Ryzih was third (4.40). Gadschiew will have qualified for Berlin and so Anna Battke will get the third slot.
Ulm was not a good venue for the javelin throwers, because the wind blew from the wrong side. And there was an upset in the women’s competition, where Steffi Nerius beat favourite Christina Obergföll in what was her final national championship.
“I am happy to have won at my final German championships,” said Nerius, who will end her career after Berlin. Nerius produced a 62.47m throw on her first attempt, which was good enough for the title.
Obergföll had to settle for second with 62.09m while Katharina Molitor won the battle for third place and most probably the one for the third Berlin slot. She threw 59.64m with Susanne Rosenbauer (58.83) and Linda Stahl (58.78) taking fourth and fifth places.
“This was a day on which nothing worked. I knew after two throws that I would not do it,” said Obergföll, who remained upbeat regarding Berlin.
Elsewhere on the second day Jonna Tilgner took the 400m Hurdles in 55.71 secs, and Sabine Krantz won the 5000 m walk with a time of 21:14.75 minutes.
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
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*World Junior record pending usual ratification procedures
